Oh Chariot
by H. S. Shore
Summary: Six years after the defeat of Sephiroth, a wanted man makes a forced and fiery exit from Kalm, hitting the road to find the only three people with whom he ever really shared a story. NEW:Chapter 20: Maybe Elena doesn't snore after all. INDEFINITE HIATUS.
1. A Long Way

The knock came at six o'clock, and his shoes were already on when the first voice came through the space under the door.

"Open up for the Kalm Guard," the voice demanded authoritatively. "Open up, sir."

"No thank you," murmured the house's single occupant, as he slid from the bed and headed for the window. "I've given up following orders for the time being."

"Open this door," the voice insisted, this time with the accompanying roar of nervous and angry whispers that signified the presence of the agitated crowd. "Or we'll be forced to break our way in."

"Your funeral," the man returned, but not really loud enough to be heard, running a hand through his cropped black hair. It was a nervous gesture that remained from when that hair had been long, the way he'd kept it when he was still in the business. At his rank, they'd never cared how he chose to keep his appearance, not in Shinra, but the Kalm culinary service guild had very specific health specifications, and that hair had had to go. All the better, he had thought at the time. After all, what better time for a change?

"This is your last chance, sir," the Kalm guard declared. "We will not request again. Please open this door and come with us quietly. There are thirty men outside, you cannot entertain any hopes of resisting us." There was a pause, and then, "we only want to talk to you."

Under his breath, the man chuckled darkly. "You've got the script all wrong," he muttered, propping the window open with a raised foot as he hoisted himself on to the windowledge. "You're supposed to tell me that before you've threatened me. You've all got a long way to go in the professional attitude department."

Five minutes later, the window shut with a metallic click, and the door burst into flames as the thirty semi-armed members of the Kalm town guard forced their way into the newly emptied home.

"Sir?" came the guard leader's now nervous call, as two others doused the fire. "Sir? We've got you surrounded…"

"No, you don't," whispered the man, from the street. As he turned his back, the house exploded, and the voices inside turned into startled, strangled cries.

Tseng closed his eyes and began the trudge to the town limits.

"A long way," he whispered.

He'd had fair warning, and for that, Tseng would thank his lucky stars, if he had any. The benefits of living in a small town like Kalm included the inability to miss any juicy gossip that might be floating around.

"Didn't you hear?" had been the word on the street for weeks. "That man living in the Elezars' old house, well, he might be one of them…Shinra folk! Haven't you seen his eyes? Do you know what they're offering for them Shinra folk these days?"

They'd always been offering something, it seemed to Tseng, to someone who could present one o his limbs, or the limbs of one of his former compatriots. And yet, for six years, he'd cohabited peacefully enough, serving fish lunches to the rural residents who, had they had any idea who he was, would have fallen on him in droves in hopes of receiving a piece of the prize.

The game was up, at any rate, he reflected as he sat on a rock near the pass that led to the road to Midgar. It had always only been a matter of time. A wanted man was always nomadic, Tseng had assumed at the beginning. And yet, every moment of safety had been such unexpected heaven that he found himself with little motivation in any discernable direction.

There were a thousand far away cities in which he could undoubtedly find at least a month's respite, maybe even a new place to set up camp for a long haul.

Yes, he could run away.

But the issue still remained that they had started looking again. And now it would be well known that Tseng, original Turks headman and official no-good-very-bad-guy by the current fashionable standards was alive and kicking, and on the map. And it wouldn't take anybody long to realize that he wasn't the only one.

One, he thought, I was a leader.

A few minutes further reflection pointed him inevitably towards Midgar.

Or, Tseng realized, back to Midgar, as it always would be.


	2. Sunglasses at Night

It was tempting to break in for old time's sake, but the Turks had learned quickly to resist all forms of temptation. Perhaps that was what had turned him off to the whole mako-reactor idea in the first place.

Instead, Tseng entered the city by the sector five gate, and allowed himself to be pleasantly surprised by the obvious improvements and impressive reconstruction that Midgar had undergone in the six years that he had been away. Mayor Lockheart seemed to have warmed readily to the task of rebuilding a city that so badly needed her. She'd seemed to him that kind of a girl.

Every sector that he crossed through had wry memories, of people he'd caught or drinks he'd shared, ruthless smiles with a raucous Reno or a triumphantly taciturn Rude.

There was a bar in Sector four called the Cetra, and for that reason he'd spent many a mission in that bar attempting to determine the reason for the incriminating name. It had ended up a coincidence – the owner's daughter's name was Cetra, and he was no professor in the history of the ancients. But it was here that Tseng now stopped, for a much needed drink, and on a hunch that he'd find a worthy drinking partner amongst the patrons.

It was a busy Friday night when he entered, with woozy Midgar locals attempting to explain the secrest of life to equally drunk and useless companions, from crooked, paintless barstools. Typical of the Midgar bar scene, thought Tseng. Not pretty, but gets the job done.

The bartender had his back to the door as Tseng seated himself at the bar and rested his elbows on the counter.

"What can I get for ya?" the bartender asked, apparently hearing the "plunk" of Tseng's feet against the stool as he sat.

"I think I'll have a Meteor Margarita," Tseng replied, with a small smile. "If that's all right."

"Meteor Margarita?" There was a frown in the bartender's voice. "We haven't made those since…" He paused. The back of his red-haired head stiffened, and he turned, eyebrows raised over eyes hidden by sunglasses even in the dark of the bar. Tseng knew they were mako eyes, like his own, one of those hunted pairs, half-lidded and arrogantly expressive beneath the lenses.

"Ah…hey." Reno said. "Meteor Margarita, right?"

"Yeah," Tseng nodded. "That's the one."

"Sure." Reno turned away with a quick shake of his head. "Sure."

Tseng waited until Reno had mixed the dirnk, watching the drunken revelry around him, carefully not looking at Reno, keeping his eyes away, casually, giving Reno his time. After a few moments, the glass slid across the counter towards him.

"Best I could do with what we've got," Reno muttered apologetically. "'S been a while, you know…since I've made one of these."

"Of course," agreed Tseng, taking a drink and watching as Reno glanced nervously around the bar. "They're not watching us," he said quietly. Then, "Here. How about I buy you one, too."

"Yeah," said Reno. "Sure. Yeah. I could use a drink."

He turned away again, to make himself another, and Tseng marveled briefly at how young Reno had managed to stay. He looked as fit and lively as ever, with that vibrant fight still lurking in his features, the way it had in the days when he'd been the quickest and most naturally talented cadet Turk. There had been a lot of welcome insubordination from Reno, a lot of jokes and near screw-ups that he'd skillfully avoid just to scare the pants off the superiors. Then there was Sephiroth, and Meteor, and during Tseng's rehabilitation from his temple wounds, Reno had taken over. Tseng had thought that it changed him, as a man and a fighter, in many ways, but he thought he saw more than traces of the old Reno now, the one that they had loved to hate, and whom Tseng had hated to respect, and yet had, and trusted, too, despite what should have been his better judgment.

"Hey," said Reno, leaning over the counter, "look, I can't…I can't really leave right now. Why don't we meet up later?"

Tseng nodded. "You choose, I've got all the time in the world."

"Load of bullshit," Reno muttered. "You wouldn't be here if you had all the time in the world." He paused. "Wall market, one o'clock, okay?"

Tseng raised his eyebrows. "I'm not quite in the mood for…" he began, but Reno cut him off.

"Look, it'll be easy to blend in there. Trust me," he said quietly. "Now get out of here before you get yourself in trouble. And put some damn glasses on, unless you like running."

Reno turned away, but as he did, Tseng caught a glimpse of a smile on his former partner's face. He wasn't entirely unwelcome.

Standing, he left the bar and walked out in the endlessly starless night of Midgar.


	3. Cold Sector

Tseng was late. At one-ten, he found Reno drinking at the wall-market bar, chatting amiably enough with someone or other he seemed to know at a corner table. When Tseng arrived, he waited by the door until Reno finished his beer and his chat. Then he waited a little longer, as Reno seemed totally unconcerned with his presence. Finally, Reno got up, stretched, smiled, and sidled towards the door, jerking his head at Tseng, gesturing for him to leave.

They met outside on the street next to the inn, as the local high-priced girls came down the street for their last foray of the day. Reno gave Tseng an apologetic shrug.

"You were late," he said, by means of excuse. "It was cold."

"Fine," agreed Tseng. He paused, leaning up against the wall o the inn, unsure exactly where to start.

"How've you been?" asked Reno. He gestured at Tseng's side, the one where Sephiroth had stabbed him all those years ago. "How's the war wound?"

Tseng chuckled. "It still plays up when it rains."

Reno smiled. "You're not that far along yet, old man," he grinned, poking Tseng with a lanky finger. "I see you're keeping yourself up pretty well, huh? You look good."

"You too," Tseng replied.

"Yeah, well." Reno threw him a grin. "I always look good."

They stood quietly for a few moments, listening to the stores close down around them as the wall market activity slowed to a stop for the night. After a little while, Tseng spoke up again.

"They're looking for us again, you know," he said.

"I know." Reno sighed. "I know they are. Here more than anywhere else, I think. I guess we shouldn't be surprised. We knew they'd never leave us alone."

"What are you doing here, anyway, Reno?" Tseng asked, with a little frown. "Of all the places to hide, you pick the one the closest to home. Why? You're smarter than that."

"It's like hiding in plain sight," Reno shrugged. "The criminal never returns to the scene of the crime, right? I figured they'd never find me, not here." He paused. "Look at me, huh? I'm a bartender. I'm a damn good bartender, but…I was one of the most skilled fighters in the world, trained by and with," he nodded at Tseng, "the best, and look at me, I'm mixing drinks." He paused, waxing philosophical. "What do you ever win in this world, huh, Tseng? Not much. Right? Not much."

Tseng shrugged. "I was no better, I made sandwiches for six years. It's not important, now."

"Yeah," Reno agreed. "Yeah. I guess."

"Look," said Tseng, kicking a clod of dirt across his shoe, "you can't stay here. You got family?"

Reno shook his head. "Nah, nobody." He paused. "But you're here, now, right?" He grinned, suddenly, and poked Tseng in the side again with that same finger, teeth flashing in the lamplight. "You missed me, didn't ya?"

Tseng snorted his derision at the comment, but Reno kept smiling.

"Aw, Tseng," he said, looking out on the darkened street. "You missed me after all."

Tseng ran his hand through his hair again. Why was it always cold in Midgar, he wondered, even in the summer, when the rest of the continent was warm? How had he known Reno would be here, anyway? He supposed that he'd known that Reno, a sentimental guy beyond what he chose to share, wouldn't be able to leave home. It was a very lucky educated guess, the kind for which he'd been praised when he was in the Turks.

"So, boss," asked Reno, crossing his arms behind his head against the wall. "What's the plan? Where we going now?"

"We?" Tseng was startled. "We're going our separate ways in the morning." He shook his head. "Traveling together would be stupid, suicide."

"Hey, look," started Reno, "how're you gonna make sure I don't start any trouble if we're on opposite continents, huh?"

"I don't need to watch you anymore," Tseng said quietly. "Earlier today it was you telling me to be careful, remember?"

"Yeah." Reno murmured. He snagged a lighter from his pocket and played with it for a moment. "I guess so."

"Meet me at the gates in the morning," Tseng suggested. "I'll take you as far as the chocobo farms. We'll part ways there." He paused. "You'd better go home. If you're luckier than me, you'll have time to pack."

Reno nodded, threw him a half-hearted smile, and slid off through the wall market back towards the bar.

Tseng, alone, slept on a bench till morning.


	4. The Country Life

They left decently early the next morning, each of them with backpacks of basic provisions that Reno had been farsighted enough to provide them with. Tseng never knew what the process of leaving had been like for Reno, and Reno didn't mention it as they passed through the gates and headed out towards green fields and visible stars.

"I never asked, you know," Reno said, as they hiked through Midgar's deserted outer territory. "Did you leave anybody behind, when you left?"

Tseng shook his head. "No, I didn't. Nobody to leave, just like you. You remember the first rule of the Turks."

Reno laughed. Together, they said, "No connections." Tseng smiled.

"There were a lot of 'first rules of the Turks,'" Reno mused. "Elena used to make up new ones every time we needed to feel important. I mean," he continued, with a little frown, "we were always important, but…"

"I remember," Tseng said, and Reno dropped it.

"You still need some glasses," Reno continued after a minute.

Tseng chuckled. "So I can look stupid, like you?"  
"Hey, now," Reno grinned. "That was low."

The trek was a little longer than they'd expected. Tseng was forced to lead them in a wide circle around the lands of Kalm. Reno made his assumptions, kept them to himself, and didn't ask questions.

It was already late when they arrived at the old-fashioned chocobo farming establishment that they'd shunned as Turks.

"Turks," Reno had always said, "don't ride birds. That's just…dumb."

It seemed much more inviting now, as the two of them made a final sprint for the barns and enclosures, a place where they hoped they could spend the night without rousing too much notice or suspicion.

When they reached the chocobo pens, they were relieved to discover that there weren't any birds being kept at the moment that could raise the alarm. As softly as they could, Reno and Tseng made their way towards the barn. The doors creaked upon opening, but there didn't seem to be anyone around to hear them.

"Good choice, boss," approved Reno, as he settled down against a pile of soft greens. "Fit undoubtedly for kings like us, huh?"

"Go to sleep," muttered Tseng.

Reno's silence implied that he'd already complied with the command.

* * *

Before he opened his eyes the next morning, Tseng already knew he was being watched. Careful not to move or change his breathing, he slowly, achingly slowly, opened one eye until, through a tiny slit of vision, he could see his potential assailant.

It was an old man, probably well into his seventies, wearing a white apron with the number seven on it. The old man smiled.

"Oh, good," he said, "you're awake."

Tseng blinked.

"Sleep well?" asked the old man, drifting past Tseng to check on Reno, who was also awake, sitting propped up on his elbows with a mixture of concern and amusement on his face.

"Billy found you this morning when he went to check on the birds. You all must have been pretty exhausted, you just collapsed right here in my barn." He paused in consternation. "I didn't wake you myself, did I?" He asked. "You're welcome to sleep longer if you're at leisure. Or maybe you'd like some eggs?"

Tseng glanced at Reno, who shrugged, grinned, and then pulled himself to his feet, stretching his arms with one fluid movement. "Thank you very much, mister," he said, extending a hand to shake the old man's. "I'd love some eggs."

The old man smiled. "I thought you would. Skinny boys like you are always hungry. You wait here and I'll go make you something."

Tseng and Reno watched him leave, and as the door shut behind him, Tseng groaned.

"What?" asked Reno with a frown. "I thought things went pretty damn well, considering the whole breaking and entering bit."

"We're leaving now," Tseng declared. "Get your bag."

"No way," Reno replied, planting his feet. "He's giving us free breakfast, come on, now."

"It's dangerous for us to just sit here and chat," Tseng reminded him. "We're wanted men, we can't just shoot the breeze with whatever old geezer happens to be here on the farm. Later, he'll remember us and have plenty to tell the search parties. It's not a good idea."

"We'll be a lot more unusual and memorable if we just get up and leave right now," Reno said. "If we stick around, we'll look a hell of a lot less suspicious."

The argument was cut off by the re-entrance of the old man, bearing a steaming tray of scrambled eggs.

"Fresh, too," the old man said with a half-toothy smile. "I gathered them myself."


	5. Small Hands

Tseng ate his eggs in silence, letting Reno do the talking as he seemed so eager to do. Having finished his first plate and started into his second, Reno was barraging the elderly chocobo caretaker with a litany of seemingly pointless questions.

"How come you've got so few birds in the middle of summer?" asked Reno, around a mouthful.

The chocobo farmer smiled. "I guess it's just a slow season. I'm getting too old for this, and my son Billy's getting restless tending the farm. I think his sister will help me when he leaves, but she's still just that little bit too young…" He sighed, but quickly perked up again, seeming to remember something. "Still, we've received quite the notice, quite the crowning honor this year." He gestured proudly at the number seen on his apron.

"What's that for?" Reno asked, nodding at the number. The old man drew himself up in his chair. "It's the racing number of the reigning chocobo champ, of course."

"Mm," agreed Reno, "that's pretty cool."

The old man wasn't finished. "We've been chosen this year as her officially endorsed chocobo stable! People will soon be traveling from all over the world to see us, you know. It's quite the high payment of respect." He paused. "It's because we trained her first mount, you see. I might even have a picture, here…let me see…"

He stood up and left the barn again, leaving Reno to help himself generously to a third plate of eggs. Tseng glared at him.

"You're certainly enjoying yourself," Tseng muttered. "Can we leave now?"

Reno shrugged. "You don't want to see the picture? Maybe she's cute. Athletic girls usually are."

"Reno." Tseng wasn't in the mood to play games.

Reno laughed. "Okay, fine, let's leave. Finish your eggs, though. You'll need your strength." He stood, and, whistling tunelessly to himself, headed out of the barn.

"Where are you going?" called Tseng, but Reno didn't respond, disappearing around the corner of the empty chocobo pen.

Mumbling obscenities at his partner's nonchalance, Tseng grabbed both of their backpacks and started for the door. As he passed the pen, however, Reno's voice stopped him.

"Tseng," Reno was calling from behind him. "Come look at this, will ya?"

Something new in Reno's voice made him turn around. Reno was standing there with the old man, staring intently at the photograph that the old man had proudly produced.

"We don't have time -!" Tseng began, but Reno cut him off.

"Just come over here," Reno asked again, "and look at this."

Wondering what he could possibly have to see in a racing photograph, Tseng dropped the backpacks in the grass and headed over to Reno.

"What am I looking at?" he asked tiredly. Reno stabbed a finger at the photo.

"Cute, isn't she," he commented, but he sounded tense, excited. Startled by his eagerness, Tseng looked at the picture, and caught his breath sharply.

"She's a beauty," agreed the old man.

"Mm," murmured Tseng, but he was scanning her features for more than natural beauty. Short blond hair was flung back across her face in the rush of wind from the race, revealing finely boned facial features, pale skinned, with large brown eyes glinting as she willed her bird towards the finish line. Her hands seemed small, engulfed by her riders gloves, but her arms were muscular and strong.

"Reno," Tseng began.

Reno nodded. "Yeah," he said, starting forward. "We should go, now."

"Wait," Tseng said, turning to the old man. "What's her name?"

The old man chuckled. "She goes by one letter, 'L.' Most people just know her by her racing number." He shook his head. "I bet she has a lot of young men all over her. Don't get too attached, you boys."

"Right," murmured Tseng. "Of course."

Reno pulled him forward. "Thanks for everything," he called to the old man. "Good luck with business!"

The two former Turks left the farm in near-silence, drifting to its limits before either was willing to speak up.

Finally, excited, Reno grabbed Tseng by the arm.

"Hey, he said, "Tseng-!"

"I know," Tseng said, but Reno wasn't finished.

"Elena," he said. "Gotta be her. She's even got those little hands, you know? Tseng, it's go to be her."

"I know!" Tseng was walking face down, staring at the ground, hands clasped together behind his back.

"Chocobo racing champ, huh?" Reno whistled appreciatively. "Our little girl. Our little rookie. Doing pretty well with herself, I guess, huh?"

Tseng slammed one fist into the other. "She's an idiot!"

Reno stopped. "What? Hey, now…"

Tseng stared at him. "She's a goddamn celebrity! Her picture's probably on goddamn television half the time."

"Well, hey, we'd never heard of her," Reno said reasonably, but Tseng wasn't listening.

"Anyone with half a brain can see who she is. I'm surprised she's lasted this long!" He sighed in frustration.

Reno attempted to be reassuring. "She's a bright girl, our Elena," he said. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

"I'm sure," Tseng muttered.

"Hey," said Reno, after a few tense minutes, "well, um. I'm going to the Gold Saucer."

"I'm coming with you," Tseng decided.

Reno grinned. "I thought you said we weren't supposed to travel together, because…"

Tseng started forward. "Forget it," he said, "I'm coming with you."

"Okay," Reno said, clapping him on the back. "But you're going to have to stop clenching your face up like that. It's just fucking scary."

Tseng turned to him. "Shut up," he suggested.


	6. Still Got It

It was a four day trek to Corel, a mining city that they couldn't pass through as they were. Everyone in Corel would know their faces, and as the town contained maybe twenty or thirty survivors of the disaster of ten years ago, there was no way to sneak through the city unnoticed by daylight.

On the third day, Tseng and Reno camped several miles from Corel, and, at Reno's insistence, made a fire with which to cook some of the food they'd brought from Midgar. Reno was stretched out on the ground, his face buried in the grass, when night fell.

"You're going to get insects up your nose," Tseng admonished wryly, watching Reno's peacefully prostrate form as he himself perched on top of a rock he'd found hear the forest.

"Better than having a stick up my ass, like you," Reno pleasantly acknowledged. After a moment, he rolled over on to his back and regarded Tseng with a reflective gaze.

"You know," he said, "I was almost married, once."

"Were you?" Tseng glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "I didn't think you'd be the type."

"Yeah..." Reno scratched the back of his neck with a nervous hand. "You should have seen her, though, she was a beautiful girl. Long curly hair, big green eyes…"

"What was her name?" asked Tseng.

"Marin." Reno sighed. "She was too good, though."

"Too good for you?" Tseng seemed unconvinced.

"It's that not hard to imagine," Reno replied, nodding. "I had to lie to her all the time, you know. Who I was, what I'd done with my life, where I came from." He paused. "I wanted to start over with her, but lies, you know, they never end." He bit his lip. "You can't begin with lies, can you?"

Tseng answered as honestly as he could. "I don't know," he said.

They sat in silence and watched the fire die.

* * *

The next night, they crept through Corel, as far from settlement as they could. They entered past the reactor and across the bridge, going around what could only be called an encampment of the Corel inhabitants. There were no guards or watchers to sound the alarm in Corel, as there was nothing there worth stealing, not by anyone's standards. No one threatened the once mining town, and Tseng and Reno were able to pass through it with very little trouble.

The problems arose when they reached the tram. In order to operate the Gold Saucer tram, someone had to be inside the booth to flip the switch.

Tseng and Reno regarded the set up with resignation.

"You're younger," Tseng said to Reno. "You've made enough fun of me for that on this trip. You do it."

"Only younger by what, five years?" muttered Reno, but he entered the operation booth anyway, and waited for Tseng to climb into the tram, leaving the door ajar.

"Ready?" Reno asked, fingers poised above the controls.

"You're the one that has to be ready," shrugged Tseng.

Reno sighed. "True." He flipped the switch. The tram kicked into gear and began to slide along the wires from which it was suspended.

"Come on," called Tseng urgently, as Reno rushed across the platform towards the moving tram. Tseng extended an arm towards him, and Reno grasped the proffered wrist, kicking off the side of the tram with one foot to propel himself into the seat next to Tseng. He landed in a mussed heap, grinning.

"Oh," he said, "oh, still got it."

* * *

Tseng had never liked flashy, and the Gold Saucer was certainly flashy. The air of greediness and happiness permeated the air like an obnoxious stench. Reno was equally put off, but mostly because of the outrageous entrance fee.

"Whatever we eat from now on," he muttered, as they walked through the entrance archway, "we're catching it ourselves." He paused. "Maybe Elena'll lend us some cash."

"Shh," Tseng reminded him. "I hate this place, it's unnecessarily confusing." He scanned the signs above the passageways, until he found one that read "Chocobo."

"You know what, though," Reno said, "something's occurred to me."

"What's that?" asked Tseng, starting down the corridor.

Reno ran to catch up. "Why don't we stay here for the night? Comfier than rocks, and it's a long trek back to Midgar."

"We're not going back to Midgar," Tseng replied distractedly. Reno had no time to answer, for at that moment they found themselves in chocobo square.

All around them monitors displayed the currently active race. Reno watched intently until he recognized racer number seven, wearing a bright blue jockey's uniform. "Hey," he said, "hey, that's her. Look at her go, hell, yeah, yeah, that's my girl!"

"Shh!" Tseng warned. It wasn't necessary. Reno wasn't the only one cheering a particular racer. The room was filled with eager viewers, most of whom had money resting on one chocobo or another.

Tseng approached the counter, where a girl in Gold Saucer uniform was registering bets. "Excuse me," he asked, "I have a question."

"Yes, sir?" She looked up from her own desk monitor. "How can I help you?"  
Tseng leaned against the side of the booth. "I've got something to give to miss "L," an admirer's gift. Where could I find her, when she's not on the track?"

"Well," said the girl, "I don't know about gifts, but she'll be out to sign autographs right here, just after the race. If you'd like to place your bets now, you can stick around and watch until she comes out."

Tseng shook his head. "No, no bets, thank you, but thank you for the help."

"Sure thing," said the girl, and returned to watching the race.

Tseng crossed back to Reno. "Hey," he said, "She'll be out after the-!"  
Just then, an eruption of cheering broke out in the room. Reno beamed at Tseng. "She won! Wouldja look at that, she won. I mean, not that I'm surprised or anything, but…"

"Of course she won," Tseng dismissed, "She's the champion." He glanced around. "Wait over there, okay?"  
He left Reno's side, and followed the throng that was heading towards a door at the far end of the room, presumeably to meet and greet the reigning champion.


	7. The Jockey

She came into the room all smiles. For about three minutes, she stayed that way, signing papers, shaking hands, beaming at the unfortunates who had lost money because of her. Then she saw him.

Tseng and Elena's eyes locked, and her face paled, smile fading from the corners of her mouth. Tseng stepped forward, but she lurched backwards, and turned quickly to the girl from the betting booth, who had come out to join the revelry. Tseng saw Elena whisper something in the girl's ear, and the girl nodded.

"Racer seven's done for today, guys!" The girl announced. "Sorry, everybody! Come back tomorrow for the next race!"

There were groans and disappointed mumbles from the crowd, especially from those farther back in line, as the fans began to disperse back through the doors and passageways to other parts of the Gold Saucer. Reno glanced around, uncertain.

"Hey, boss," he started. Tseng gestured at him to stay put.

Elena had turned around and was starting to make her retreat.

"Wait!" Tseng called out. She didn't stop, but pushed through the double doors towards the racetrack. Tseng started forward towards where she had gone, but the doors shut in his face. He started at them resignedly for a moment, then, disappointed, turned away.

"She'll be back tomorrow," the booth girl offered, as she followed Elena out the doors.

"Thanks," Tseng muttered.

He trudged back to Reno, who was looking dejectedly at the blank monitors across the room.

"She didn't even want to talk to us?" He asked. "Maybe we should wait here, maybe she'll come back."

Tseng disagreed. "You saw her," he said. "She doesn't want to talk."

Reno frowned. "So…what, now? We just leave?" He gestured at the blank monitors. "Looks like she's doing well enough for herself, at least."

Tseng looked thoughtful. "Let's get a room for the night," he offered. "We'll see how things progress in the morning. I'm hesitant to leave her here in this…" he waved a hand vaguely around the room. "This publicity disaster."

The two of them crossed to the door and left the racing square. Tseng had a lot on his mind, and Reno recognized the pensive look in his eyes, keeping respectfully silent until they reached the hotel.

Tseng was furious with himself. He knew he should have anticipated that sneaking up on Elena like they had done was probably not the safest and wisest of moves. Of course she'd be startled, after six years of zero contact, if they suddenly imposed themselves on her. But he knew that, no matter how generally tactless his approach had been, she was acting too foolishly to be left alone. Headstrong, and slightly desperate, he thought. Elena, after all, might not be the type to move on well from her sole traumatic year in the Turks.

Ultimately, Reno found it necessary to break Tseng's reverie.

"Hey," he said gently, "look, why don't you quite your worrying and get some sleep. There's a damn black cloud over your head, I can see it from here. Go relax."

Tseng nodded, and took Reno's advice.

* * *

Climbing the stairs, Tseng seated himself on the bed in their rented room. There was a television across from the bed, and Tseng switched it on, hoping for some sort of more pleasant diversion. The images flashed and flickered for a moment before coming entirely into focus.

He'd turned on a news show, it seemed, some sort of local "highlights at midnight." He reached forward to change the channel, but was stopped by the images on the screen. Next to the newscaster's podium was a depiction of a violent blaze engulfing a familiar looking bar, surrounded by the slum scenery of Midgar's fourth sector.

"Shit," Tseng breathed, closing his eyes.

When Reno came in a few moments later, the lights and the television were off.

* * *

The next morning, Tseng opened his eyes to find Reno sitting up in bed, his eyes on the door.

"I swear, somebody's trying to get in," Reno said, jerking his head towards the window. "They were trying the window first."

Quietly, the two men rose from bed and slipped over to the door. Reno peered through the crack, one hand braced lightly against the wall as he leaned forward to look. Almost immediately, he stepped back.

"It's me, Reno," came the voice from outside. "May I come in?"

Reno jerked the door open to reveal Elena standing in a nightgown, hands clasped in front of her as she nervously eyed the two men standing in the doorway.

"Hi," she murmured. "Why don't we close the door before we're noticed."

Tseng reached around her to close the door, and Elena sat down on the bed with a tired little sigh. Reno and Tseng stood awkwardly in front of her, shifting on their feet as they waited for her eyes to meet theirs.

"How'd you find me?" she asked.

Tseng stared at her. "How could we have missed you, I think, is the better question. What were you thinking?"

"Tseng…" Elena started, but Tseng didn't let her finish.

"You're going to get yourself killed," he continued. "I thought you, you, one of us, one of the Turks, would have more sense, would have a vestige left of her common sense and survival skills. Have you seen the news lately?"

Elena nodded. "I've seen the news."

Reno glanced between them, catching the foreboding air. "Hey," he said, "hold on, what news?"

Tseng looked at him, then looked away. "Tell you later, Reno," he said. Turning to Elena, he extended a hand. "You're going to have to come with us. It's too late to salvage this, now."

Elena smiled. "So that's why you came, huh?" She paused. "To be my knights in shining armor? Are you gonna pull me from my tower, boys?" She shook her head. "I missed you."

Reno nodded. "It'll be like old times, you, and me, and Tseng, on the run from the man, on a mission, you know?"

Elena rose from the bed, and shook her head again. "I want you two to go home, now," she said. The two men stared at her.

"Haven't you heard anything I've-!" Tseng began.

"Every word," Elena replied. "But Tseng, I'm happy, here. For once, for real." She paused. "There's nobody here who's afraid of me. They love me, here." She smiled, again. "So I'll take my chances."

Tseng started forward. "You're acting like an idiot," he cried, frustration bubbling up against his usually calm exterior. "You can't do this."

Elena turned away. "It was nice to see you," she said, with emotion in her voice. "Honestly, it was."

The door closed behind her as she left.


	8. Old Orders

They stayed another day. What was the rush, thought Tseng, since nobody here was looking? He knew his logic was flawed, that they should even now be running, especially with Elena's newfound and dangerous publicity. But Reno was a persuasive man, and Tseng himself, though never allowed to be an optimist, tried to hold out hope that "their little girl" might do a double take and change her mind.

When the cash did run out, though, even Reno knew it was time to go. Tseng found him watching the races, with an almost brutal expression on his face, one Tseng hadn't seen since their fighting days.

"If they hurt her," Reno said, following reluctantly as Tseng started towards the tram station, "I'll show them why they want us locked up after all."

The two men sat on a bench, waiting for the tram to arrive, as the sun set.

"We'll blend in with the partygoers heading back from here to Corel," Tseng said, "and then we'll wait out our return to Corel till it's dark enough."

Reno snorted. "I'm tired of this sneaky shit," he muttered. "It feels wrong, like, we're too good to be creeping everywhere like criminals."

"We are criminals," Tseng reminded him.

"But damn good ones," came a voice from behind. Reno and Tseng leapt to their feet.

"That's the second time I've surprised you," Elena noted, almost grinning at the looks on their bemused and shocked faces. "I'm getting better every day."

"What took you so long?" Tseng asked, noticing her heavily shadowed eyes. "We would've left without you if you'd been a minute later."

Elena sighed. She stood there for a moment, clearly having dressed in a hurry, with the bottom buttons of her work shirt undone, and one suitcase in each hand. "I really wasn't going to come," she said.

"And?" Tseng prompted. "What changed your mind?"

She bit her lip. "And then I realized," she said, "if they found me, like I guess I know they would, it wouldn't be just me. They'd break me and break me until I told them…where he was."

Tseng raised an eyebrow. "He?"

"Rude," murmured Reno.

Tseng stared at him, and then back at Elena. "You know where he is?" he asked. "Why? Where is he?"

Elena shook her head. "I haven't seen him for three years," she said. "But we've all settled somewhere. There would have been more rumors, if we'd been on the move. He's probably still there, and I…I'd be putting us all at risk, because I know."

"About three years ago," Reno spoke up, "Rude wrote to me." He grinned. "He's not so good with words, that guy, but he said he'd seen Elena. Said you were sick," he nodded at Elena, "and that we had to go find you again. I guess you never told him where you'd been all that time."

"And what'd you say to that?" asked Elena.

Reno shrugged and sighed, glancing at Tseng. "I said that the boss told us to stay away," he said, with an apologetic grimace. "And that we had to listen to the boss."

Elena rolled her eyes and smiled, adding, "'cause it's our job."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Tseng cut in, trying as hard as he could to maintain his controlled expression, "but do you mean to tell me that you've all been in touch for the past six years? That you've all been blissfully aware of each other's situations all this time?"

Reno shook his head, sensing the coming storm. "No. He just wrote me that once. I never heard from him again, or Elena. We did just want you told us we had to do."

Elena frowned. "Reno, that's not it…" she murmured.

Tseng turned away. "Just…get in the tram," he ordered. "We'll miss our window, otherwise."

* * *

They sat on the tram together, conflicted entirely. Finally, Elena said, "I'm glad I came."

Reno looked over at her from across the seat. "Hey," he said, with a toothy half-smile, "us, too."

Tseng didn't speak. He was trying to organize the roiling swell of thoughts that sat on his taxed mind. All this time, he thought, and I was alone. He'd had his assumptions, his ultimately correct suspicions, and the knowledge of his own orders. Yet none of that could ever make up for the unspoken limitless gap in his conscience where Reno, Elena, and Rude had been. For six years, he'd been entirely alone, never even allowing himself to wonder if they were alive, never writing, never waiting. And all along, they'd known. They'd never been that alone.

The tram stopped outside Corel, and they got off. Reno sped up to met Tseng's quickening strides as they started towards the nearby forest, away from the Corel settlement.

"Hey, look," he said, "It wasn't like that." He stopped, forcing Tseng to stop as well, and waited for the older man to nod his assent, his understanding.

Tseng turned away. "Let's go," he said.


	9. Safety in Numbers

Back on the other side of Corel, the silence begged the question.

"So," asked Reno, "where is he?"

Elena was a tough nut to crack. He'd been working on getting her to tell him where their only missing partner was for a little over an hour, now, and the former cadet had yet to be impressed.

"Look," said Reno, "there's safety in numbers."

"No," Tseng insisted, "there isn't."

Reno turned to him. "So you're all right just leaving Rude there, alone, while the rest of us make an almighty break for it?"

"A break for what?" Tseng asked resignedly. "Besides, no one knows where he is. Rude can take care of himself."

Elena glared at him. "And I guess I can't, is that right?"

"Apparently." Tseng looked her in the eye. "Considering how easy it was for us to find you, I'd say you did need our help."

The lack of real sleep and the nocturnal trudges were taking their toll on the assembled vagrants, and tension was palpable as they sat around the remnants of Reno's fire. Elena sighed.

"I'll take you to where I think he is," she said. Reno made a triumphant noise, but Elena shook her head. "I don't know how much good we can do him," she said, "but if we're screwed, we're screwed together." Pausing, she looked at Tseng. "Right?"

Tseng stared at the ground. "Of course."

Elena gave up on him. "None of this changes the fact that we don't have a plan," she continued. "We can't run forever. They burned down part of Kalm, they burned the bar in Midgar…"

Reno sat up, suddenly disturbed. "They burned the bar?" he asked, biting his lip.

Elena nodded. "Two days ago. They ransacked Midgar looking for us, and they burned the Cetra." She paused, uncertain. "Was that you? Were they right?"

Reno nodded silently. "We've been fucking idiots," he muttered. "We're all fucking celebrities."

Tseng closed his eyes. "All right," he said. "We'll get Rude. Then we're leaving."

"Leaving where?" Elena asked.

"The continent, at least," Tseng decided. "From there, I don't know, but the longer we spend deciding, the easier we are to be found." He glanced over at Elena's suitcases. "And we'll have to get rid of those, too," he noted. "They're bulking and a hassle. You'll be fine with what you have."

Elena nodded. "Fine." She opened one of the suitcases, and pulled out her chocobo jockey uniform, balling it up and throwing it to Tseng.

"What's this for?" he asked, eyeing it.

"Beats rocks for pillows," she replied, rifling through the rest of her clothing. "Reno, you want a dress, or a couple of shirts?"

Reno grinned. "Got any lingerie?"

Elena made the decision for him, and a nightgown hit him in the face. Reno shrugged.

"Close enough," he approved, leaning back and settling in for the night.

All three were silent for a moment, either feigning or attempting sleep. After a minute of this, Elena stood up and carried her pillow over next to Tseng, stretching out beside him on the grass. Reno followed suit, rolling over on his back next to Elena.

"I hope you don't snore like you used to," she mumbled, resting her head on the ground.

Reno glanced over at her. "You'd never be lucky enough to know if I snored," he shot with a laugh.

"That's not what you said that night," Elena retorted.

Tseng opened one eye. "Shut up," he said, "and get some sleep." But all around them, the air seemed warmer.

* * *

The next morning, they awoke and packed a few of Elena's most preferable pillows into Reno and Tseng's backpacks.

"Wherever Rude's been hiding," Reno said as they set off in Elena's recommended direction, "he'd better have some food on him, or we won't make it long enough to be satisfactory POWs."

Elena was having her doubts. "After all these years, gods know if he's even there anymore."

Reno shook his head. "Rude's a stoic," he said. "He's been waiting for us all this time, I'll bet. That'd be like him."

The backpacks were heavier, but the trip was faster, or at least it seemed so, with Elena leading, and all of them eager to reach the spot where they hoped to find the last piece of the motivation to keep running. They camped another hungry night in the middle of a field, but woke unrested and anxious.

Halfway through the second day, they reached Fort Condor.

Reno whistled appreciatively. "An old enemy's deserted military fort. Rude, I'm proud of you."

Elena started forward. "I'll go in first," she said.

"We'll go in together," replied Tseng, holding her back with one hand. "We don't want you getting accidentally shot."

"He won't shoot me," Elena protested. She grabbed the rope at the entrance and began to haul herself up into the overgrown structure that had once been a condor's protective reserve, as well as a frustratingly belligerent outpost against Shinra control. Tseng remembered this place well, as the place where he'd lost a lot of blood and significantly more dignity as a Shinra trainee.

"Rude?" Elena called. "Rude, it's us. I know this is strange, but I swear it's not a trick. Where are you?"

There was a pause. Elena tried again.

"Rude, it's Elena. It's important, please, or I'd never have come. Hello?"

Silence echoed around them. Elena turned to the others in frustration. "He's gone," she said, "he must be."

Just then, the shots broke out overhead.


	10. Game's Up

"What the hell?" Reno yelled above the din, as what sounded like a barrage of bullets pelted the ceiling above them.

"Go!" called Tseng.

The three of them rushed outside again, shielding their eyes as the sun backlit the top of the fort, where the condor's nest had once been. Precariously balanced on the structure's edge, five men in white jackets were opening fire on a long figure crouching across from them on the rooftop.

"Rude!" screamed Elena. She ran back inside and up the rope, scrambling up the ladders and reaching the fort's opening to the sky just in time to hear one of the gunmen's screams as he plummeted down to the trees below. Behind her, Reno and Tseng emerged into the light.

There wasn't time for shock or pleasantries. Reno dove at one of Rude's assailants and tackled him to the roof's surface, wresting the gun from his grip and firing a shot cold into his skull. Standing, he drew his weapon, an electric shock-wielding rod, with which he took a swing at a third attacker.

Elena was faster. She landed her heel in the back of the third attacker's neck, and shot him as he toppled to the ground. From a strangled groan behind them, the three newcomers could tell that Rude had picked off a fourth.

Tseng hit the fifth, now cowering and companionless, over the head with the butt of his gun. As the man fell forward, Elena made as if to finish the job, but Tseng put out a hand to stop her and hold her back.

"Leave this one," he advised, staring down at the man's bleeding forehead. "We'll need him."

Elena was too distracted to ask questions. Rude was standing, shakily braced against Reno's supporting arm, staring around at them, closed-mouthed. His characteristic sunglasses were hanging loosely by one ear, shaken off in the tumult. Beneath them, his eyes were wide, softening by the moment as the alarm of battle was replaced by the unexpected glimpses of his allies.

"Hey," Reno said, "crisis averted. You alive?"

Rude gestured vaguely with one arm. "…Reno," he said. "Tseng…Elena?"

"Miss me?" Elena asked, with a smile.

Rude stared at her, and then nodded. "Yeah."

"I see we didn't arrive too soon," Tseng observed, kicking the prostrate form of the one surviving gunman over on to his back. The injured man groaned and stared, panicky, into his captor's Wutain eyes.

"Who are you?" Tseng asked.

The man sputtered, barely conscious. Tseng sighed, and kicked him again. He fell silent, knocked out by trauma and blow.

"We'll wait until he wakes up entirely," Tseng decided. He crossed to Rude. "You okay?"

Rude nodded. "Living, thanks." He slumped into an exhausted heap on the roof, gazing at the dead men strewn in front of him. "Game's up, huh?" he asked, but it was more of an acknowledgement than a question.

"That's how it looks," Reno agreed.

Rude sighed. "Oh," he muttered. "Joy." Elena knelt down beside him.

"Let's go inside," she suggested. "I'm sure we raised a pretty loud bit of hell out here. It'd be better to be indoors, in case anybody comes to check it out."

Rude nodded his agreement, and pushed himself to his feet. Elena followed him back down the ladder.

"Reno," Tseng said, as the other man turned to accompany them. "I could use a hand."

Together, the two of them pushed the bodies of the dead gunmen off of the roof, watching as they landed with sickening crunches against the trees below. Then, they lifted the surviving man, and hauled him slowly down the ladder, careful not to hit his head any more than they already had for the sake of whatever he might have left to offer them.

* * *

While Tseng and Reno were washing the blood off of their hands, Rude and Elena sat down at Rude's makeshift table. Rude was flexing his arm back and forth, exercising a cramp in a muscle that he must have received during the tension of the attack. Elena looked around.

"You've really been here all this time," she murmured, somewhat incredulous, and mostly impressed. "Wasn't it lonely?"

Rude glanced at her. "Alone is safe," he noted. "Safer than you were."

Glaring at him, Elena rested an arm on the tabletop. "I was just fine, thank you," she muttered. "None of you believe I'm in any way capable of fending for myself. Let me remind you that for six years I _was_ by myself."

Rude said nothing.

"Who were they?" asked Elena, motioning to the prostrate form of the wounded man, whom Reno and Tseng had dumped against the far kitchen wall. "How did they find you here, of all places?"

Rude shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Gil-seekers, I guess." He paused as Tseng and Reno returned from the bathroom. "Tseng's got it," he said.

Reno crossed to where they sat, slumping into a chair. "We made a pretty big entrance, didn't we?" he asked Rude, with a tired but triumphant half-smile. "Together again."

Rude nodded at Reno. "Hasn't changed a bit," he noted to Elena. She laughed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thank you to everyone who's been reading!

Just a couple of shout-outs and issues addressed:

**Cueball** has made an important point…our heroes are traveling a little bit too fast. I'll do some editing when I return from my trip, and we'll make sure they aren't quite so fleet-footed, to make it a little bit more realistic.

**AstarothTheFallen, Kawaii Plushie Fetish, **and **Morbid Knight, **thank you for the reviews and the encouragement! I'll keep writing until I leave, and I'll pick right up when I get back, so please do keep reading if you're enjoying it.

Thanks to everyone! Next chapter tomorrow morning, with any luck! Maybe it'll even be up tonight, I've got nothing else to do for twenty-four hours. ;)

Love!

Memmselle


	11. Hands and Feet

The crew spent most of the night making feeble attempts at dressing their wounds, and taking turns keeping the lookout from the top of the Fort, making sure they'd yet to have been discovered. In the middle of the night, Rude climbed up the ladder to find Elena, rubbing her eyes determinedly on lookout duty. She gave him a little wink and a wave as he approached, beckoning him to sit down beside her. "Hey," she said, "So, what'd you think of our rescue?"

Rude considered it. "Not bad," he admitted, "for being out of practice."

"Out of practice!" Elena snorted. "You're an ungrateful little twerp." She slid her legs out in front of her, dangling them over the edge of the outcropping where she was perched. "You'd think you'd have a little more respect for our endeavors."

"Sure," Rude murmured, grinning. "Thanks."

Elena just shook her head in mock annoyance, and licked her chapped lips as the sun started to come up over the plains which splayed out in front of her. Rude slunk a little bit closer to her on the ledge, following her gaze. He glanced down at her arm, and gave a little grunt of discontent, seeing a large red welt blazing on her left wrist, "How?" He asked, gesturing at the bruise, and Elena, shrugging, pulled the arm behind her back, trying to make the gesture look casual.

"War wounds," she chuckled, "marks of honor, no?" She grinned reflectively. "Remember how we used to show off in the locker rooms back at the Company?"

Rude was startled. It was a rare day that he'd every heard anyone invoke The Company with that kind of nostalgia. Elena leaned back against her wrists in a stretch, and then flinched, feeling the bruise, and straightened up again.

"Nasty job," Rude commented on the welt. "C'mere." He lifted up her wrist gently with one hand, staring at the wound for a moment." "Lemme wash that."

Elena raised an eyebrow, and pulled her wrist away. "You should have been a mother, Rude," she murmured. "You're a better one than mine was." She turned her own wrist over and examined it carefully. "I like it. Adds some color." Her own pale skin was apparent as ever in the vague sunlight that was climbing up overtop of them as they sat. "You always said I could use some color."

"Not what I meant," Rude admonished, but he let the issue of her injuries go, and Elena turned her focus to the horizon.

Footsteps could be heard below, and then Tseng's head appeared over the top of the rope ladder that led up to where Rude and Elena sat. A few moments after him came Reno, a little louder, a little less adept at climbing the ladder. "Hey, kids," Reno declared, "Bedtime." He sat down next to Elena, and shoved her gently in the side. "Go on, yeah? Get some sleep."

"My pleasure," Elena replied with a yawn, and pulled herself to her feet, with Rude following suit. Giving Tseng and Reno a little thank-you wave, she and Rude descended from the summit of the Fort, to find a pair of decently clean cots to curl up on.

"Rude?" asked Elena, after a few minutes of decently comfortable silence. Rude's head appeared over the side of the bed that he'd settled into.

"Yeah?" He replied, resting his chin in one hand.

Elena bit her lip, suddenly feeling like it was a stupid question. She wanted to ask what it was like to live alone. It seemed like the kind of moment in which one would ask that kind of deep question, in which one would have the chance to inquire into a taciturn friend's personal life. But Something in Rude's expression said that he'd rather not talk about it.

"Nevermind," she said, with a shrug, rolling over on her cot. "G'night."

"G'night," Rude muttered, and it couldn't have been more than five minutes later that he was asleep.

On the roof of the fort, Reno stretched out on his back, poking Tseng in the ribs with his toe. Tseng jerked away from him, and made a face. "Ew," he spat, "Don't put your feet on me."

"What," muttered Reno, "'s not like yours are any cleaner." He paused for a minute, staring at the sky, ignoring the landscape and the signs that he was supposed to be watching for. "I'm bored."

"Deal with it," muttered Tseng, not looking up from his own vantage point. Reno rolled over on to his stomach, yawning. Tseng glared at him. "Can you focus, please? It's late, I don't have the patience for this, you're not seven."

"You're old for your age," noted Reno. Tseng snorted.

"I'm dealing with the situation in a much more collected and mature-!" Reno poked Tseng in the ribs with his foot again, a little harder this time, and Tseng sprawled back against the roof of the Fort. "You're impossible. And gross."

"You love me," Reno grinned.

Tseng said nothing for a few minutes. After a short lapse, he turned back to Reno with a little resigned shrug. "I've got a deck of cards," he muttered.

Reno raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah?" He grinned. "Let's see it."

**Hey guys. Memslle here. I know it's been a really horridly long time since I've updated this story, I'm not sure if anyone will pick up where I left off and keep reading.**

**I've got an explanation for that. I was in an accident after I left y'all this summer, and I spent a couple of months blind. Sort of distracted me from the goal I'd had of finishing this story sooner than later.**

**But if you'll keep reading, I'll keep writing it. Let me know where you stand on this one. **

**Thanks for indulging, kids. **


	12. Dignity My Ass

Tseng and Reno came down from the lookout spot a couple of hours later, to find Rude sleping soundly, out like a light, with Elena still perched on the edge of her bed, running her hair through hher fingers with a distasteful look on her face. Reno crossed to sit next to her,making the mattress bounce a little as he sat, throwing Elena on to her back.

"Good morning to you too," she snarled, righting herself and glaring at Reno's bleary-eyed face.

"Yeah," said Reno, glancing at her sideways, "Doesn't look as if you slept much, huh? What, Rude too noisy a sleeper for you?" They both glanced over at Rude, who was barely even breathing, his chest rising and falling silently, sleeping the sleep of a man who has been long used to stealth.

"Yeah," muttered Elena, stretching and arching her back against the post of the cot. "That's it." She blinked, and then peered up at the two men, raising an eyebrow. "How about you, you doing okay?"

Tseng nodded. "Nothing to report," he said with a shrug. "We should be getting on the road soon, no chance of staying here, I'm afraid."

Reno stepped over to Rude's cot, and, leaning over him, bent down to his ear, and whispered "Wake up, what are you, sleepy the dwarf?" Rude sprang off the bed almost instantly, jolting upright, his hand going immediately to his gun, which, rusted and worn, was still tied to belt loop of his tattered jeans. Reno stepped back sharply, putting one hand out in front of him as he backed away. "Hey, hey, whoa now. It's me."

Rude grunted, and turned to Tseng, then to Elena. "Morning," he muttered. "Time to go?"

"Yeah," Tseng agreed, "Time to go." He started for the ladder which would lead him to the exit, and then stopped, doubling back and turning to Reno. "Hey, what about our friend?"

Rude blinked, puzzled. "What?"

"Our prisoner," Reno clarified, leaning against the wall next to Elena's bed and rubbing the back of his neck reflectively. "Dunno. Either we kill him, or we take him with us."

Elena shook her head. "We've got enough problems," she said, standing and crossing to Reno's side, as Rude pulled himself reluctantly out of bed. "We don't have the time nor the provision to keep him."

"Aw, c'mon, mom," whined Reno, making his best puppy face and batting his eyes at Elena. "He followed us home, are you _sure_ we can't keep him?" He laughed at Elena's look of disgust. "All right, yeah, lead me to him, boss."

Tseng and Reno left Elena and Rude to finish orienting themselves, and climbed back up the ladder to the roof, where they'd left their wounded, exhausted attacker. He was still lying facedown on the ground when they approached, and only lifted his head up to grimace at them when they got close enough for Reno to put one foot right up next to the man's head.

"So," Reno started, hunkering down to the wounded man's level as best he could, "Let's play a game." The man tried to roll over on to his back, but Reno reached around his waist with one arm, rolling him back over to face front. "Here's the rules. You tell me who sent you, and you win, I let you live." He paused, cocking his head to one side, as if considering for a moment. "You decide not to tell me what I want to know, and I kill you, you lose." He nodded, and then waited, as if expecting approval or confirmation from the attacker. From the ground, the other man simply snarled at him.

"I'll take that as an "I getcha," Reno said, grinning. "Great." He leaned back on to his haunches, getting out of the man's face. "So. Who the hell are you, and who sent you here?"

The man waited for a moment, and then opened his mouth to say something. Reno leaned in a little closer, trying to catch the words. Straightening up a little, propping himself on to his shoulder, the injured man glared at Reno for a minute, and then spat right in his eye. Reno, wiping his eye with his free hand, sighed dramatically.

"You just had to go and be all melodramatic and noble, didn't ya." He shrugged "can't understand what that's for, really, nobody's gonna recognize the nobility of your deeds after I've shot you in the head." He glanced down at the man, offering a hand. "Hey, c'mon, get up. Let's do this like men."

The man didn't move. He stared Reno in the face, and then rolled over on to his other side. This time, Reno did nothing to stop him. Turning back to Tseng and the others, Reno shrugged. "Useless piece of shit, won't get a thin of out one like that."

Tseng shook his head with a sign. "All right, then. Rude." Rude turned to face him, raising his eyebrows in a questioning gesture. "Kill him."

Tseng started down the ladder, and Reno followed, whistling a little bit as he went. Elena glanced at Rude, and then started down after them. Left alone with his stoic former attacker, Rude sat down on the ground next to him, trying to peer into the man's face.

"Hey," he started. The man didn't respond. Rude tried again. "Hey," he said, "What's worth dying for?"

The prinsoer rolled over again, and looked him in the eye. "Well," he said, speaking for the first time since they'd cut him down the night before, "Aren't you going to kill me? Aren't you going to follow orders?" There was a sneer in his voice that raised Rude's hackles, but there was nothing about this guy to be afraid of. Rude watched him as he coughed blood out on to the roof of the Fort, while he tried to keep his eyes menacing and narrowed in Rude's direction.

"Who's following orders," Rdue asked. "Gonna die for your orders from whoever it is you're working for."

The man shrugged, coughed again. "Who says they're orders?" He asked. "Maybe I just wanna have some dignity when I'm going."

"Yeah," grunted Rude. "Dignity my ass."

Rude drew his gun from his jeans, and pointed it at the man's head. His former assailant didn't flinch, didn't push himself away, but just sat there, looking curiously at the barrel of Rude's gun. Rude bit his lip, went to pull the trigger, and then in an instant grunted and slid the gun back into the loop on his jeans.

"Dignity my ass," he muttered again, as he stood up to leave. "Let the beasts eat you." He could hear the man coughing, still, as he climbed the ladder down to where his friends were waiting for him.


	13. Living Arrangements

They took a tent from Rude's stores at the Fort, and then left the place, not bothering to look back at it as they set off on their way. Rude wasn't used to walking, and they had to take breaks often to rest their sore and injured limbs. Tseng was forced to admit to himself, grudgingly, that the Turks, though still the best, most elite fighting foce the planet had seen, were tired, broken, and out of practice. But everything, he insisted to the doubts in the back of his head, could be mended, and it would only be a matter of time before they were all back on par again with the legend of what they'd been.

For several days they crossed the plains, spending their nights camping in tents and sleeping on Elena's old numbered shirts from her days as a Chocobo jockey. On the way, they regaled Rude with the stories of where they'd all been over the years. Rude didn't talk much, he rarely contributed any details of his own, but he listened, soaking in the news of his friends that he'd missed after so long a time.

It seemed like it wasn't long before they were boarding the boat for Costa Del Sol, registered in borrowed or stolen names. Elena tried to keep her initials as best she could, registering as Electra. Tseng and Reno took on John and Jeremy, names in which they were easily lost. Rude couldn't seem to make up his mind on the issue.

"Let's stick with the J names," remarked Reno, considering Rude's indecision. "I think you'd be a dashing Jebediah."

Elena snorted. "That," she said, "is a name that even a mother would feel guilty about picking for her son." But Rude, not nearly as picky as Elena, stuck with the name, and they boarded the ship without too much hassle or difficulty.

They were all stowed away two adjacent cabins on board, Reno and Elena in one, Rude and Tseng in the other. On the second day of travel, Elena finally got fed up with her living arrangements, and felt the need to articulate her concerns to her boss.

"I don't understand," she insisted, while they all sat together in Tseng and Rude's cabin one night after a bit of dinner that they still had leftover from Elena's stores, "Why I have to bunk with him."

"You never had any problem with it before," Reno grinned. "You know, back in the good old days."

Elena glared at Reno. "I'm not sure what good old days you're referring to," she muttered, "You wish that's how it was."

Rude grinned, averting his eyes from his quarreling companions. "Cute," he murmured.

Elena stared at him. "Excuse me?" She said. "Oh for god's sake, you're no help at all."

Reno looke dawkward. "Yeah, well, you know you're just jealous."

Rude cocked his head questioningly. "Jealous of you?" He asked. Reno shook his head.

"Nah," he started, leaning back against Tseng's bed with a smile. "Jealous of her that she got to shack up with me!"

Elena snorted, but after a few moments, couldn't help laughing. Reno, pleased with himself, helped himself to another nutrition bar from the bag that contained their limited food. Elena, catching him, slapped his hand away, and Reno dropped the bar, throwing up his hands in defeat.

"And let me tell you," he muttered to Rude, with a sigh, "I wish I'd been set up differently, too."

"Stop complaining," Tseng commanded, looking down at the three of them from where he was seated on the top of the bunk he shared with Rude. "It's only, what, two more days till Costa del Sol? Deal with it, we've all been in worse situations."

"Yeah, yeah," Reno agreed, "I'm only playing." He craned his neck o watch Tseng leafing through some book or other that he had cradled in his lap. "Whatcha got there?"

Tseng shook his head, as if to imply that now was not the time for questions. He continued pouring over what looked to the others to be some sort of novella he'd brought with him from Kalm. Tseng had never been the kind for pleasure reading, though, or for that matter, for any pleasure at all, and his three companions knew it. Falling silent, Reno and Elena gave Rude a little wave, and then returned to their own cabin, to leave Tseng alone with his volumes and his thoughts.

Rude clambered up on to his bottom bunk, and regarded the bottom of Tseng's bunk silently for a few moments. He stretched himself out, waiting until he heard Tseng close the book with a snap before asking, "What's that?"

Tseng sighed. "The news," he muttered. "And nothing pleasant, either."

"Never is," Rude remarked astutely. Tseng nodded.

"You could say that again." He swung over the side of his bunk, and came down with a calculated plop next to Rude, who squeezed over to make some space for him on the end of the bed. Tseng shook his head, and sat on the floor across from Rude instead, holding up the slim volume that now proved, upon closer inspection, to be a news journal Tseng had picked up from one of the vendors aboard ship.Tseng reached out one long finger to point at a headline, and Rude moved forward to read it.

"Fort Condor burned to the ground in a fit of Phoenix Fire," the paper read. Rude stared at it for a few moments, then looked up to Tseng with a knowing, concerned grimace on his face. "Phoenix Fire, huh?" He asked.

Tseng nodded. "Did you see a bird when we were there?" He took the journal back, and set it down next to the bed. "Cause I sure as hell didn't, unless it was out finding food when we stayed."

Rude shook his head. "No bird," he muttered. "No Phoenix Fire, either."

"S'what I thought," agreed Tseng.

As Tseng reached up to the ladder behind the bunk to climb back into his own bed, Rude rolled over to try and get some sleep. He knew exactly what the headlines meant, but he'd learned long ago to try not to overthink. Overthinking, he thought, had always been Tseng's problem, since Tseng seemed incapable fo deriving joy from any particular situation. Instead, Rude found it more appropriate and more beneficial to take things as they came, not too look too far ahead, lest he find himself going in circles.

Even as he was dozing off, something banged against the door. Tseng looked up, waited, and the bang came again.

"Rude?" He asked warily. Rude nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "Heard it."

Cautiously, Tseng climbed down from his bunk, and crossed to the door.

"Open up," came a woman's voice. "Tseng, I know you're in there."

Tseng caught his breah.

"It's-!" Rude started, but Tseng waved a hand at him to cut him off. He stepped back slowly, even as Rude was jumping out of bed to meet him at the door.


	14. A Scarlet Woman

There was no third knock. After a short pause, the woman on the other side of the door seemed to have grown tired of waiting for a response, and Tseng and Rude heard the lock click open from the outside. The door swung open, and Tseng had to sidestep out of the way to avoid being stepped on by the all-too-familiar creature who entered.

Tall, busty, and lithe, the lady only formerly known as Scarlet was a vision of every man's sexual fantasies, just as she always had been. She wore a red dress, not appropriate for either weather or circumstance, just as she always had. There was something beautifully nostalgic for Tseng in the way that she entered the room, casual, nonchalant, almost arrogant, as if she owned everything she saw. It was very characteristic of the way that everything at Shinra had been run.

The notable difference, now, was that Scarlet's makeup appeared to be brushed on in a hurry, that her hair was not so much done up as pulled-back, that her shoes were not quite the right color for the gown. Nothing, Tseng reflected, that he'd ever have noticed before, but every little change in this symbol of Shinra power showed exactly how much toll time had taken on those who had been a part of the Company.

"Well, hello," she said, and drawn up to her full height, Tseng couldn't help focusing on the grace of her stature, the curve of her neck as she advanced on him. "Fancy meeting you here, or is it really? I'd like to think it's fate, actually, if you don't mind me saying so. It's been a long time, Tseng, Rude."

Rude looked at Tseng, waiting for some sort of sign from his fearless leader as to what it is he should do with this familiar intruder. Tseng paused, bit his lip, shook his head. "It has," he started. "A little too long for this to be a casual visit, I suppose."

"Pardon?" Scarlet inclined her head to one side. "You're the ones who visited me, after all. I had no idea you'd be on this ship."

"Not much chance of that," Tseng countered. "What do you want?"

Scarlet sighed. "You don't trust me," she observed. After a moment of looking back and forth between the faces of the two Turks, Scarlet shrugged. "I suppose I'd be stupid to expect you to trust me, after all, you're wanted men, and if there's one thing we taught you in the Company, it's to trust absolutely nobody." She laughed. "I guess that's a pat on the back for me, then, being a ver talented teacher."

Rude made a growling noise in his throat, not so much menacing, as a sign that she should keep her distance. Tseng, waving one arm at Rude to put him off his guard, stepped forward. Scarlet smiled. "Yeah," Tseng muttered, "I guess you were a good teacher. So what've you come to teach us now?"

Scarlet smiled. "I've come to instruct in the ways of dealing with loneliness, love," she started. "Silly as that might sound after everything you've doubtless been through until now."

"I'm sure you know they're going to be after us as we speak," Tseng said, glancing behind him to get Rude's confirmation. Rude nodded, wordlessly, and Tseng turned back to Scarlet. "They've been after us since I left Kalm. It's all over the papers."

"Who's they?" Scarlet asked. Tseng shook his head, unable to reply, and Scarlet shrugged. "Old news, I suppose, nothing the mighty Turks can't handle, aren't I right?" She paused. "And yes, of course I knew all about it, whoever they are, they lack a certain…subtlety." She chuckled darkly. "I suppose that's why you've gone under assumed names."

Tseng nodded. "And what am I supposed to call you, then?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I'm too distinctive to be mistaken for anyone other than myself?" It was a veiled…something, Tseng new, a veiled command for him to tell her exactly who exquisitely distinctive it was. She'd used to do this time all the time when he'd been at ShinRa. He recognized it as one of those mind games that women played, maybe only to the men they wanted to manipulate. The funny thing he'd noticed about working in the Turks was that once a woman trusted you, she didn't need to play those games. Elena was always straight with him, and with the others, as far as he could ever tell.

"Everyone's easily forgotten," he countered. "You are, and I am. If I were you, I'd take a new persona." He was cold with her, waiting for Rude to back him up, but as he turned to look at Rude, there was something in Rude's eyes that said he wasn't comfortable in the situation. Was it Tseng? Did Rude distrust the circumstance because he was afraid to trust his leader after so long?

"You hurt me, love," Scarlet said, showing no signs of offence. "You hurt me badly. To think you'd have been willing to forget me, after everything." And with that there was a wink, Scarlet's attempt to share something between the two of them that Tseng had no desire to partake in. Tseng knew her ways, and he was ready to avoid them. Why didn't Rude trust him?

"I'm going for a walk on the deck," Scarlet decided, beckoning Tseng forward towards the door. "I wanted to talk to you, there's a lot we have to catch up on." She glanced at Rude, then looked away, seemingly disinterested. "You know," she added, to Tseng, "To catch up. Talk about the good old days. You know the drill."

And then she left the room, not magically, not mysteriously, but straight tout the door, closing it behind her as she went. She dropped the paperclip that she'd used to pick the lock behind her on the floor, and Tseng had a feeling that in that gestures, she was making an attempt at showing him just how real and tangible she really as.

"I'm gonna go out," he said to Rude, who was waiting, never having moved from beside the door where he'd been standing. "You know. To see what's going on. Maybe we can get something out o fthis."

Rude watched him go, then bit his lip, grumbled to himself under his breath, and went into the next room to find the others.


	15. Something Artificial

Scarlet was waiting for Tseng when he emerged on to the deck of the ship. She was seated behind a couple of cargo boxes, legs arranged neatly, skirt draped around her ankles in an almost picture-perfect tableau of sex appeal. There was something artificial about Scarlet, Tseng had always thought, something so manufacture and composed about the woman that Tseng had always felt, in the back of his mind, like she was something Shinra had created, another weapon in their plan for something resembling world domination. And the most effective, weapon, too, he thought, because it not only could attack the enemy, but could eat away at the company from the inside out.

He crossed over to her, and she straightened up upon seeing him, smiling and reaching out one hand to call him to her. Tseng went, one foot in front of the other, slowly, letting his control drift as he got closer and closer to her. As he stopped only a few feet away, she reached out to him, cupping his chin in one hand, dragging him to her and running her fingers through his once-long black hair with a nostalgic smile.

"I've missed you," she said. "You look older."

"It happens," Tseng growled, and as he closed the distance between them entirely, she pulled his head to her and kissed him, letting her lips linger on his just long enough to remind him of exactly what she'd meant be "reminiscing about the good old days."

Tseng' arms closed about her greedily, and he pressed her backwards on the cargo box, so that she was teetering on the back edge of it, held upright by Tseng's embrace. His lips moved down to her neck, to the bare skin exposed by her strappy red dress, and she leaned into him, arching her neck and smiling as her lips traveled along his ear.

"Entirely too long," she whispered, and Tseng, otherwise occupied for the moment, said nothing.

Elena was pacing back and forth next to their shared bunk bed when Rude opened the door. She stopped in her tracks and glanced up, then smiled, relieved. "Rude, it's been boring as hell in here, I didn't think to bring a book like Tseng."

Reno snorted, from his perch atop his own bed. "Wouldn't be boring if you'd just sit down and try to chill out a little back, you're acting like him."

The him, in question, Rude thought, must be Tseng, the ever-nervous. Elena, reaching the same conclusion, ignored Reno entirely. She crossed to Rude, and, taking in the concern on his face, frowned. "What's going on? What's happened?"

Rude gestured at the door. "Tseng's gone," he muttered. Elena started, and Reno jumped up, sliding down the ladder behind him to land on the floor before them.

"What? You mean he's disappeared?" Elena was already headed for the exit, ready to give chase. Rude stopped them, holding out a hand to prevent Reno from following. Elena stared at him. "Well?"

"Not disappeared," he corrected, "Just gone." After a short pause, during which Elena and Reno waited impatiently for the rest of his explanation, Rude added "Shinra's here."

"What?" Elena was puzzled. "Rufus Shinra's dead." She turned to Reno, hoping to get some verification of her right to be confused. Reno shook his head, shrugging.

"Not Rufus Shinra," Rude tried again, "Scarlet. Scarlet's on board."

This was a new matter. Elena and Reno exchanged another look, this time a more concerned one, but Reno shrugged, and turned back to Rude. "So? What can Scarlet do to us, all on her own?" He flopped back on to Elena's bunk, unconcerned. "She's anything but potent with a weapon, and besides, Tseng knows what he's doing. Not sure what all the fuss is about, honestly, maybe both of you need to get more sleep.

Elena glared at him, honestly in disbelief of his nonchalance. "Scarlet's no pushover," she said, "and Rude's right to think that we shouldn't leave any of our number alone."

"Any of our number?" Reno gave Elena a hard look. "And what exactly is 'our number?' Last time I checked, Elena, you weren't the one combing the planet for the rest of us while we were out fending four ourselves. Last time I remember, we had to coerce you to come with us. Now you're gonna turn around and pretend you're the concerned member of the force, ready to go out and sacrifice herself for her comrades?"

Elena stopped, mouth open, and then bristled, blushing angrily. "Go to hell, Reno," she muttered. "You're never going to understand what it's like to really care about someone, are you." She started for the door, and this time Rude made no effort to stop her. She slammed the cabin door behind her a s she went, and they listened to the sound of her footsteps diminishing around the corner.

"The fuck's that supposed to mean," muttered Reno, pulling himself up off the bed again. "She wouldn't know the first thing about what I'm talking about, her and her celebrity and her protection. If we hadn't come for her, she'd never even-!"

Rude cut Reno off with a look. The two men regarded each other for a few minutes. Rude shook his head quietly, and then turned, and stalked out of the room after Elena. Reno watched him go with a sigh, trying not to think about what she'd said.

"Like I wouldn't know what its like," he muttered.

Tseng pulled himself out from behind the boxes where he and Scarlet had tumbled, blinking blearily around him at the still deserted ship deck. "For heaven's sake," he muttered, groping around behind and in-between boxes for his pants. "Rude's probably going insane."

"What is he," Scarlet asked, smiling, "Your mother?" She reached out for Tseng again, but he rolled away from her, pulling his pants on and grabbing his shirt from beneath his shoes. "You're gonna leave now?" She asked, after a moment. "That's all I get, huh?" She shrugged. "Hit and run, okay, sure. It was nice catching up, Tseng."

Tseng stopped for a moment, finishing the ties on his shoes. "We're all gonna come through this one after all," he said. "After this storm over former Shinra employees passes, you know?"

"Yeah," said Scarlet, with a languid sigh. "Sure we will."

"I'll see you tomorrow night," Tseng added, as he turned to head back towards his rooms. "I want to hear where you've been all these years." He watch Scarlet slipping her heels back on, pulling her hair back tight away from her face. "All right?"

Scarlet just nodded. As Tseng stalked off to his cabin again, she watched the blinking homing device on the back of his pants flash every few seconds, grimacing to herself. Then she turned away, and disappeared around the corner, just as Rude, Reno, and Elena came bounding on to the deck of the ship, scanning for their leader amongst the cargo boxes.


	16. Motivational Speeches

Running to try and catch up with him, Elena, Reno, and Rude met Tseng in the hall, on the way back to his cabin. "Tseng," called out Rude, and he stopped, turned on his heel, and looked at them.

"Hey," he said. "What've you all been up to?"

Elena just stared at him. After a moment, she asked, "What have we been up to?" She licked her lips contemplatively, glancing around at her comrades before continuing. "Rude told us you were with Scarlet. That's she's on the ship."

Tseng nodded, indifferent. "Sure is. Fancy meeting her here, yeah? After all these years…it's a small planet after all." He unlocked the door, and opened it, holding it for the rest of them to enter, which they did, slowly, almost grudgingly, until they were all lined up against the wall across from Tseng's bed. Tseng himself slumped on to the bed, folding his arms behind his head and gazing at the ceiling.

Reno shook his head. "We gotta get off of this ship," he muttered. "Not such great disguises if they're finding us already." Elena glanced at him in surprise, and Reno shrugged. "You know, you've got a point, about the stealth, and how we're trying to stay undercover. Gotta keep low, you know?" He looked to Tseng for confirmation.

Tseng shook his head. "She's one of us," he insisted. "A drifter, like we were. What's the worst than can happen? Scarlet never sent the thugs; she's not the one burning the cities to the ground." He paused, looked at their unconvinced faces, and rolled his eyes. "You're gonna stand there and tell me that Shinra's responsible for everything that's happened lately, for all of the attacks and the arson? I thought you all knew your own Company."

"I'm not trying to tell you that she's the one after us," Elena tried again, "I'm trying to say that just because she isn't an immediate threat doesn't mean she's our ally. Every man for itself, Tseng, you've said it to us time after time."

"Yeah?" Tseng snorted. "A lot of good we're doing following that adage. Look at us, would you? We traveled the planet to find each other, why?" He shook his head. "Because we were lonely. Because we couldn't deal with solitude, with sitting in silence and listening to our own thoughts anymore." He glowered at the floor, biting his lip in a self-revulsion that was visible to everyone in the room. "On our own, we'd each have struck out for ourselves, and we'd each have been all right. We'd never have had to spend any time taking care of the others. It's what we've learned all along, just like Elena said."

There was silence in the room for a few moments, and then Elena stepped towards Tseng, who turned his face away from her angrily. She couldn't tell if he was furious with her, or with himself, for breaking their solitude, or for desiring to keep it. Carefully, she raised on hand in front of her, as if to ward off his protests before they began.

"And yet, we got us this far." She waited, and then added," us, not each one of us," before he could interrupt her. "We made a decision, and now we have to stick by it. And that means we have to look out for the four of us."

"And that means," added Tseng, his face still to the ground, "That we have to look out for all of us, everyone in the Company who might be under fire." It was a strange comment for him to make, considering the way he'd so vehemently fought against their togetherness in the first place, and the way he'd so violently defended solitude only moments before. Ignoring this discrepancy, Elena nodded.

"Then all of us it is, right?" She turned to the others, and Rude looked away from her. Reno stared between her and Tseng, then nodded slowly, with a little noise of affirmation in his throat. Elena took Rude's silence as a lack of interest in the decision, or a lack of desire to comment, and, turning back to Tseng, she shrugged, and repeated, "Then all of us it is."

Tseng rose abruptly from the bed, and stalked across the room to the door. "Great," he muttered. "Fantastic." Then, with a final curt nod at his assembled companions, he opened the door with a creak and left the room, apparently to go lose himself in those solitary thoughts that he'd alluded to them all being afraid of. Elena watched him go with a little frustrated exhalation, and Reno stepped to her side.

"Gallant speech," he murmured, with a wink. "All for one and one for all, yeah?" Elena turned around to glare at him, but found him smiling at her with no malice, and no mockery in his face. He looped one arm through hers, and reached out for Rude with the other, walking them down the wooden cabin floor towards the door. "Cheer up, guys," he insisted, "We're almost to the home stretch. And you and Tseng both have a point – who wants to be lonely? Then there's no one to congratulate you when you win!"

"Or console you when you lose," Elena muttered, but Reno wasn't having it. He wagged a finger at her, taking her arm and arm all the way to the door, and then dropping her arms to pull it open for her.

"Go get some sleep," He suggested, ignoring the disgruntled face Elena made at him. "You didn't get any last night, and trust me, if you keep me awake for one more night like you did, I'm going to getugly."

"You can get uglier?" Elena asked, but there was little malice in the jibe. With resignation, she nodded, and slipped out the door to head back to her own cabin, with Rude following shortly behind. They left Reno alone to sit on Tseng's bed and stare at the wall across the way. When he felt it was clear, that Elena and Rude had long gone to their own room, he frowned, and muttered to himself unintelligibly as he tried to think through all of the ramifications of what had just taken place.

Reno knew perfectly well that in Tseng's absence, Elena and Rude had looked up to him as the leader. When Tseng had returned, and everything had returned to normal, he'd been relieved to resume his place as the jokester and laid-back, yet battle-ready powerhouse. Thinking of himself in those terms made him smile – Reno was far from loathe to compliment himself. But he saw everything Elena did, and he knew that she had a point. He thought to himself about exactly how close Scarlet and Tseng had been at the Company, and allowed himself to briefly entertain the notion that this could all be some planned conspiracy, for good or ill, on both their parts.

But he knew Tseng too well, despite the fact that the older man hated to think that anyone really knew him. Reno had a knack for determining character, and though it had taken him years, he liked to think he understood the nuances of what enervated his boss. Tseng was a passionate person, who hated being wrong, and who wanted to prove something. God only knew what it was he wanted to prove, though, and Reno desperately wanted to give him the chance to relax.

As he pondered, Reno's foot came in contact with a metal disk on the floor, and he glanced down to see something round, metallic, and flashing lying right next to the edge of the bed. Picking it up cautiously, Reno examined it.

"Huh," he muttered to himself, "must have fallen out of one of the cases." Rising, he slipped it back in to the nearest travel bag, Rude's, and then lay himself out on Tseng's bed to close his eyes for a little while.

**Note: I have proofread these to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, I have no one at the moment who is willing to proofread my stuff for me, and my visual issues cause there to be the occasional grievous grammatical error. Please, if you see one, let me know where it is and I'll correct it, it'd be a great help. :)**

**Memslle**


	17. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Tseng went walking in the halls in between the cabins, pacing in large, nervous circles, until he found himself out on the deck of the ship again. He walked around the various cargo crates, trying to find the place where he'd left Scarlet, hoping she'd still be there, but after several minutes of no success, he decided, in defeat, to return to the hallway. Elena's words about camaraderie kept ringing in his ears, not because of any particular eloquence on her part, but because of his own questions as to how much he wanted to buy in to her idea of what the Turks should be. Elena was a people person, a woman who got attached to other people, not because of any feminine cliché, but because she chose to, because she believed that that was the only way to get something out of life.

Tseng had always thought that he disagreed with her on that issue, had told her multiple times that she was crazy to try and form bonds in a world when they were easily broken by everything from forgetfulness to a gunshot. Tseng was a man of many means, and he'd been a man who had been privileged to many lovers over the years, and still, to this day, he couldn't say that he found any of them worth endangering your life, or your outlook on the same.

And yet, he realized, she had him wandering around in circles on the deck of a ship, searching for a woman with whom he'd shared the occasional intimacy, but nothing else, traveling with a band of wanted men, watching their homes get burned to the ground over the news that they couldn't stop long enough to discuss, because none of them were willing to bring in the others.

And speaking of that woman, he noted, glancing around in frustration, he had no idea where she'd escaped to. He had an insane urge to find her, to tell her that it was going to be all right, because they'd decided that she could stay on with them. Fighting down this desire, Tseng turned around, and made for his cabin, steeling himself for Elena's rebuke.

When he got there, however, there was only Reno, lounging on his bed, reading through his news journals with a disturbed grimace on his face. Tseng stopped in the doorway, and waited a few moments, until Reno looked up to meet his gaze.

"You didn't tell me about Fort Condor," Reno said, raising an eyebrow. Tseng shook his head, crossing to the bed, and seating himself next to Reno.

"I didn't tell anyone about Fort Condor," he said, then corrected himself. "Well, I showed Rude, but he didn't seem to put off by it."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Rude makes an effort to seem like he's not too bugged by anything." Then, with a half-accusatory, half-respectful look, he added "You taught him that, you know. He was never this taciturn, until he came under you."

Tseng sighed. "I'm just wonderful at bringing out the best in people," he muttered. Reno regarded him for a long time, then shrugged.

"Yeah," he said, with no rancor in his voice, "You are."

The two of them sat on the bed, leafing through the other sections of various news, until the door opened a crack, and Elena and Rude let themselves in. Without speaking, the two of them flanked Reno and Tseng on the bed, leaning over their shoulders to take a look at the journal.

Elena whistled appreciatively, and buried her face in one hand. "This just gets more and more exciting," she said with a sigh. Rude chuckled.

"Just like old times," he murmured. Elena nodded reluctantly. "Running from the authorities."

"We used to be the authorities," Tseng corrected him. "We were running from the bad guys."

"Who are now the good guys," Elena added helpfully.

Reno shook his head." Let's keep this to the basics, shall we?" He insisted. "We're the good guys. Anyone who isn't us is the bad guys. Anyone who isn't immediately classifiable is still a bad guy. Guilty until proven innocent. And the goal of our mission, as our own newfound heroes, is to get the hell out of here before the bad guys, i.e. everyone else, find out where "here" is. Got it?"

Elena chuckled. "Well, when you put it that way," she said, with a smile.

Rude poked Reno in the side. "Who made you king?" He asked.

But Tseng just looked at him for a long time, before scanning the faces of the other two, and then sighing, and shrugging with a little smile. "Got it," he said. Then he stood up, and walked over the ladder. Climbing up it, he heard Elena whisper something inaudible to Reno, before she stood up to return to her own room.

"Hey," she called from below him. "I'm going back to my cabin. I'll see you two in the morning."

"Night," Tseng called. "We're getting off this ship the day after tomorrow."

"Sure thing, boss," Elena called. "Night."

She walked to the door, turning around to raise an eyebrow at Reno. "Coming, bunkmate?" Then she stepped out, letting the door close behind her with a click Rude made a face at Reno, who pretend to ignore him, until Rude, in one fluid motion, shoved Reno off the bed and onto the floor.

"Bedtime," he insisted. "Get out."

"Whoa," laughed Reno, standing up and running a hand through his rumpled, flattened hair, "All right, all right, g'night to you too."

Back in his own cabin, Reno found Elena sitting at the desk at the far end of the room, scribbling something in a notebook. He walked over as quietly as he could, peering over her shoulder. She turned briefly to check the clock on the wall, and, noticing him, started, and almost fell out of the chair. "Jesus Christ, Reno," she muttered, "Don't sneak up on people, no matter how good you are at it."

"Nah," Reno grinned, "That's Rude's department, I'm the loud one, remember?"

"Oh yeah," muttered Elena, glaring at him, "I remember."

Reno glanced down at the papers in front of her, not quite quick enough to read them before she snatched them away and hid them in the drawer beneath her. "What you writing?" he asked. She didn't respond at first, but only shrugged, and shook her head. Then, after a moment, she added, "just a journal. Diary kind of thing. Just to keep track, in case…" She trailed off.

Reno cocked his head at her. "In case of what? In case you get old and senile and can't remember your friends?"

"Just in case," Elena countered.


	18. Here Comes the Sun

It wasn't long before the ship prepared to dock at Costa Del Sol, formerly a rich, Shinra-executive-laden vacationer's paradise. Tseng found himself standing on the deck in the early hours of the mourning, leaned up against one of the cargo crates that he'd found himself strewn amongst only a few days before. Biting his lip, he let himself admit that the sounds of the departing helicopter he'd heard the night before hadn't boded well for his chances of finding Scarlet this morning.

There was nothing to be said about it, he decided after a while, trying to quiet the rising bile in his throat at the thought of what a sap he'd been to stand there arguing for the bonds of brotherhood in front of the others. He left the deck, returning through the corridors to the cabin, resolving not to say anything to Elena. She'd never liked Scarlet anyway, not that he didn't know why. Jealousy ran deep with those women. But that was long ago and far away, and nothing to carry over to the present.

"Hey," called Reno, catching sight of Tseng coming down the hall towards them through an open cabin door, "Get your shit, we're leaving." He pulled himself back in around the frame of the cabin door, and Tseng followed him inside to the sight of Elena sitting on top of the sack in which they'd been carrying around Rude's provisions.

"Well?" She asked, as Tseng stepped around her towards his bunk, "Where'd she get to?" Tseng ignored her, trying to avoid her eyes, and Elena snorted, getting to her feet. "Well," she said, not bothering to face him, "while you were searching, Rude and I put your journals away for you, and whatever pants you came with, although if you don't wash them soon we're going to throw them into the ocean once we hit the beach. I wanted to do it already, but we couldn't have you walking around with no clothes on, now could we?" With that, she stepped around Reno, and left the room, snapping the door closed behind her.

Tseng looked at Reno, who whistled, and shrugged. "Happens to all of them at some point, you know," he said. "That time of the month, I guess."

"I heard that!" Elena yelled through the door. "Get your damn bags or I'll really throw them over the side."

Three hours later, the four of them were at the counter of the Costa del Sol Inn, checking in with only two suitcases between them, one of them having been wrathfully abandoned on the sands outside by Elena. Reno approached the somewhat scantily clad woman working behind the counter, while Rude made an embarrassed face and turned away, appearing to admire the carpet.

"Two rooms, please, for three nights," Reno started, but Elena stepped in to cut him off.

"Three rooms," she corrected. Reno sighed.

"Look," he said, "I know that sharing a bed with me is far too hot to handle, but we can't afford three rooms."

Elena bristled, but Tseng shook his head before she had a chance to interrupt again. "He's right," he started, "We really don't have the cash on hand. It's one room per two people, you can share with whomever you like." Turning to Reno, he raised an eyebrow. "Stop antagonizing Elena," he muttered, "Or we'll lose more of our luggage."

"Sure," the woman behind the counter replied, bending down a little farther to reach a sheaf of papers below her desk. Rude reddened, and blinked unhappily at Reno, who snorted at him without sympathy, and stepped out of his line of sight, just to make the point. "You can go right up, it's number 105, it'll be a white door on your left." She handed a key over the counter, and Reno took it, dangling it in front of Rude to try and snap his attention away from the tanned beach-beauty that he was now intently fixated on.

"So," Tseng asked, one hand on his hip, turning to Elena, "as our token woman, take your pick." Elena glowered at him, and Tseng shrugged. "Or don't," he added. "You can just see how rooms get parceled out instead. I'll put you with Reno again, I like being able to sleep at night, personally."

To everyone's surprise, Elena didn't say a word about that, but turned on her heel and marched up the stairs. Tseng grinned to himself, deciding that Elena's silence just proved what he'd known all along – she had a tendency to snore, and wasn't about to let him know it. "Fine then," he said. "Rude, you're with me."

"Cheers," Rude muttered, as they started up the stairs together, leaving Reno to pay the bill. Behind them, they heard him rifling through his provisions bag, cursing to himself. "Hey, look," he said, "I've got um…I'm a little hard up for cash…hey, what are you doing on Saturday night, huh?" Tseng laughed to himself as Reno's voice faded below them, and they entered the white door that Elena had left lying open for them, leading into their assigned room.

Beneath their window, there was a sound of wheels rolling against the grainy white beach sand, and Rude peered out to try and catch side of what had made the offending noises. Reno pulled him back in by his collar. "Don't fall out," he laughed, "We went through all the trouble of saving your ass for a reason." Rude grumbled good naturedly at him, and Reno grinned. "I'm going down for some long-earned sunbathing," he announced. "And Rude's coming, too." He linked his arm with Rude's, and marched him out of the room, the door shutting behind them before Tseng's protest could carry to them across the room.

"That's a really risky idea," Tseng called after them in frustration. "We're supposed to be lying low." He watched the lose door unhappily, then started forward, only to be stopped by Elena crossing sharply in front of him in the direction that the others had gone. "Where are you going?" He asked, and Elena shrugged.

"I'm going sunbathing," she said, and left him standing there, feeling like an idiot in the middle of an empty room, on an incredibly beautiful, sun-kissed afternoon.

Elena met up with Rude and Reno as they emerged out of the awning of the hotel on to the beach. The sand itself was jam-packed with sunbathers, swimmers, and old men who no one, under any circumstances, had any desire to see in their tiny swimsuits. Rude stopped under a green beach umbrella, and waited for Elena to catch up to them. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Reno glared over at Rude.

"Always prepared huh," he muttered. "Wish I'd brought some sunglasses." He glanced at Elena, who was blinking unhappily , trying to avert her eyes from the glare off of Rude's shades. "Or maybe not." In one fluid motion, he pulled his shirt over his head, and made a running dive for the waves lapping at the edge of the beach.

Elena and Rude watched him go, Rude chuckling to himself. "Sunburned," he noted, pointing at Reno's bare back for Elena's benefit. Elena squinted at it, smiling despite herself.

"What, already? He's only been in the sun for what, five minutes?" Stepping closer, Elena made as if to join Reno in the water, and then stopped, her smile vanishing. "That's not a sunburn," she said, shaking her head sadly. "That's the angriest looking battle scar I've ever seen." A little bit closer, now, the red mark on Reno's back was undeniably a war wound, and not one that had been recently sustained, either. There was obvious scarring around the edges, and yet the cut was deep enough to still be red and glaring. Elena saw him wince as he dunked himself underwater, and started towards him again, reaching the edge of the waves as Reno's head emerged from underwater.

"Come on in, the water's fine," he called, beckoning for Elena to join him. She stood there, shaking her head, and then sat down, folding her legs underneath her on the sand. "What?" He asked. "Come on, don't be a prude, we've all seen it before." He grinned maliciously, but Elena didn't take the bait. Bored with her, he called back to Rude, "Well? You just gonna stand there all day or what?"

"Reno," Elena insisted, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands, trying to catch his eyes, "What's that?"

"What's what?" Reno asked, leaning back to dunk his bright red hair back into the water. Elena frowned. "What?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What's what, huh?" Leaning forward, he flipped his hair over his shoulders and sprayed Elena with a barrage of salt-water, forcing her to throw herself back on the sand, shaking her head, little droplets covering her blouse.

"Oh for the love of," she muttered, "Now you're in some shit." Ripping her blouse over her head, Elena wriggled out of her pants, and, clad only in her underwear, threw herself into the waves at Reno, who let out of a little bark of laughter, and dove under again.

Rude was only the one left to notice the sound of several pairs of boots, too formal and businesslike for proper beach attire, approaching from the direction of the Inn.


	19. On the Alert

"Elena, Reno," Rude called, starting towards them as the sounds of boot-steps came closer, "Let's go." They ignored him, Elena trying unsuccessfully to kick up the water into Reno's face before he managed to submerge himself again. "Reno," Rude tried again. "Elena. We have to go."

Reno perked up, following Rude's gaze, and in the process, intercepting the barrage of water that Elena was splashing in his face. "Pfft," He muttered, spitting out the saltwater all over the edge of the beach in front of him. "What? What's going on?" He came halfway out of the water, and then turned around, offering a hand to Elena to help pull her out of the waves. "Hey, Rude says something's up."

"Listen," Rude insisted, as Elena and Reno joined him, dripping all over him as they strained to hear what he was indicating. "Someone's coming."

Reno shook his head. "That's it? Someone's coming?" He rolled his eyes, and put one wet arm around Rude's shoulders. "You've been in the business of running away too long. We're at a beach, of course someone's coming. It's a damn resort town. There are people everywhere, no hopes of being alone here."

"Those are not," Rude tried again, eyes narrowed beneath his sunglasses, "beach shoes." He gestured in the direction of the Inn, and Reno obligingly gazed off into the distance, trying to see what it was he was supposed to be looking out for. After a moment, Rude asked, "Well?" Reno frowned, raising an eyebrow, and shook his head.

"Look, I don't hear anything," He said. "I think you desperately need a vacation, more than any of us knew." He turned around and made as if to head back into the water, but Elena, looking thoughtfully off towards the Inn, didn't follow. Rude and Elena heard Reno splash back into the waves as Rude sighed, frustrated. "Hey," Reno called, "C'mon, Rude, it'll do you good."

"Maybe I'm crazy," Rude muttered, rubbing the back of his neck where the sun was beating down on to it. Elena shook her head, focused on the Inn again, and then abruptly realized that she was still standing around on the public beach in her underwear. With an embarrassed little squeak, she dropped to her knees and started to pull on the shirt and pants that she'd left lying on the sand.

"What did you hear?" She asked Rude, as she struggled into her clothes. "What are we looking for?"

"Nothing," Rude muttered, embarrassed. "Nothing."

Not long afterwards, Reno, Elena, and Rude trudged back into the Inn, rented towels wrapped about them as they pushed open the door. They tried to look stoic and unimpressed as Tseng, not having moved, apparently, from the spot in which they had left him, glared them down, one by one, as they entered the room.

"Have fun?" He asked, sweetly. Elena looked at Rude, who pretended to be intently studying the walls. "I hope you did, because every sacrifice you make should at least turn out well for you in the end. So I hope you had fun, I hope it was worth it."

"C'mon, look," Reno muttered, stepping forward, "What's this all about, no taking chances. Guys' got to have a little time off, or he goes crazy." He gestured vaguely in Rude's direction. "Like Rude. He's totally

Lost it, jumps at every sound, probably hearing voices in his head, you know?" He shrugged. "Not that you can blame the guy after having lived alone all that time in the Fort, but-!"

Tseng cut him off abruptly. "What? What did you hear?" He walked over to Rude, who shook his head, looking to Elena for support.

"Nothing," he said, "Just on the alert." He paused. "Thought there was someone following us." Reno opened his mouth to say something, but Tseng shot him a look to cut him off. No one s poke for a long time, and Rude shifted on his feet, looking unhappy. "Just been a long time, that's all," he said. "I'm fine. Just. You know."

"I know you're fine," Tseng said. "You'd be better off still if you didn't doubt yourself." He glared at Reno. "What did you hear? Why do you think someone's following us?" He waited, and after a moment, Rude nodded, and looked him in the eye for the first time.

"Heard boots following us around after we left the inn." He stamped one foot down on the ground, and it made a cracking sound against the floorboards of the Inn. "Like that." He paused, and Tseng nodded, encouragingly. "Stopped when I said something." He shrugged. "Wasn't you, then it wasn't good."

Tseng nodded again, and stared resolutely at Reno, eyebrow raised, as if to say "I told you so." Reno glared, but bit his lip. "Look," he said, "That doesn't mean a thing; there are people all over the damn place here, it's impossible to tell if we're being followed, it's impossible to pick out a face in a crowd. Not ours, not anybody else's. It's a lost cause either way. We can't find them, and they sure as hell can't find us."

"Beg to differ," Tseng murmured. "Look what I found in your suitcase while you were out enjoying the warm weather." Rude leaned forward to get a better glimpse of the blinking, circular object that Tseng had picked up from the table next to him. "What do we suppose this is?"

"Stop patronizing us," Elena muttered. "I've never seen anything like that in my life, what the hell are we supposed to think it is?" She stepped forward, and took it out of Tseng's hand, holding it up to the light. "It's not our technology."

Tseng shook his head. "Wrong again," he corrected, and, taking it back from Elena, he turned it over in his palm, exhibiting the "SHINRA" stamp of craftsmanship on the bottom. "It's our technology all right. Well, no, it's not ours, but it would have been if we'd lasted long enough to see it through." The others stared at him, and Reno inhaled sharply. "That's right," Tseng said. "It's nothing good. Any other guesses?"

"We're being fucking cloaked," Reno exclaimed. Tseng smiled morbidly. "I remember, I found that on the floor of the cabin on the ship, thought it belonged to somebody, threw it back into Rude's bag." He looked horrified, then sheepish, then staunch, trying to regain his composure while all eyes in the room rested on him. "But it was already on the cabin floor, I'm not cloaking us. I mean, I'm sorry. Look, how the hell was I supposed to know it wasn't one of your gadgets?" He tried to glare at Tseng.

"So, there really is someone following Rude," Elena sighed. "Following us," she corrected after a moment. "Someone with access to never released Shinra technology. Great, fantastic." She stalked to the other end of the room, where the door lay that joined her room to Tseng's. "And Reno's right about one thing. We can't find them."

"But they can sure as hell find us," Reno muttered. "Not right about everything." He hurried over to Elena, opened the door and pushed her through it. "We have to pack."

As Elena left the room, they heard her say, "Aw for heaven's sake…never a dull moment."

"That's for sure," Tseng said to no one, as Elena and Reno disappeared around the door into their own room. He stared angrily at the floor for a moment. "Some vacation spot, huh, Rude?" Looking up, he tried to catch Rude's eye, hard to do under those sunglasses. "Let's get rid of that thing."

Rude picked up the tracking device, and without so much as looking at it, lobbed it out of the open window, watching it glint in the sun as it plummeted down to the beach below. There were a couple of audible startled cries as the round metal ball hit the sound, but nothing loud or frightened enough to imply that anyone had been hurt. Quickly, Rude shut the window, and retreated back into the room, away from the view of any curious onlookers. "Not crazy," he said, "after all."

"Nope," exhaled Tseng, "not at all." He crossed to his bed, and sat on the edge of it, burying his face in his hands for a moment, as Rude stood by, almost at attention, watching with one hand on his hip. "Im sorry that it ended up in your suitcase," Tseng said. "I'm sure that wasn't what was meant to happen."

"Hey," Rude said, "In this together, right?" He shrugged. "Who knows where it was meant. Ended up there, just as much of a problem for the rest of us." He reached out to open the window again, but Tseng shook his head.

"Scarlet's cloaking us," he said suddenly. "Or somebody who bought her, anyway." He spat the words out as if he had to say them before anyone noticed that he was the one who'd spoken. "She must have cloaked it on me that night I went to talk to her aboard ship. I don't know how I didn't see it."

"No idea," Rude insisted. "Bygones be bygones, or whatever."

But Tseng wasn't having it. "Elena was right," he continued. "I should never have gone, I have no idea how a person in my position could take that kind of a risk with someone they barely knew. It was honestly one of the most idiotic-!"

"Shut up," Rude suggested. Tseng sunk dejectedly backwards on the bed, staring at the ceiling, leaving Rude to pace around the perimeter of the room, not so much anxiously, as in anticipation of whatever it was this new development would bring.


	20. Human Too

"It was a stupid idea in the first place," Elena said, arms crossed against her chest, as Reno closed the door behind him. "Acting like normal people. Honestly, what gives us the right?" She slumped back against the wall, watching him as he crossed to the bed and started piling everything that he'd unpacked the night before into his battered bag.

"Sarcasm gets us nowhere," he admonished, throwing a shirt and one the journals Tseng had bought back into his bag. "Shouldn't have brought us out in the open in the first place, Tseng was right."

"Doesn't mean you didn't have the right idea, either," Elena insisted. "We're human, we can't just keep running forever."

"We're not human, we're the Turks," Reno reminded her. Elena snorted, and Reno glared at her. "It's true," he said.

"The Turks are human too, Reno, or had you forgotten," Elena shot back, "that the whole reason we're running in the first place is that we're just as able to die as every other human being? That there's nothing elite about how we're living on this planet anymore? Nobody's gonna save our asses this time, Reno. Nobody but me, myself, and I, and that goes for each and every one of us."

"What happened to 'we're in this for each other?" Reno asked tiredly. "What happened to your high ideals of teamwork and the four crusaders?" He finished packing his stuff away, and, walking over to Elena's side of the bed, starting pushing her things into his bag as well.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I meant," Elena said, more quietly. "I don't mean we shouldn't help each other. It's just that that's all we've got, you know?" She watched Reno for a few moments, and then crossed to him, shaking her head. "Stop going through my things," she sighed, gathering some of her clothes out of Reno's hands, and pulling her bag away from him. "I can do it myself."

"All right, hey," Reno said, stepping back and holding his hands out in front of him in a gesture of acquiescence, "I'm only trying to help." He tossed a pair of underwear at Elena that had fallen out of her arms, and she picked it up sheepishly, dropping it into her bag, and turning away from him as she zipped it shut. Reno frowned. "Testy today."

"Sorry," muttered Elena, not contritely. "Maybe I'm just having a little bit of a rough time. I never expected I'd have to do this ever again. Takes some getting used to." She sat down on the bed, and played with the ends of her pillowcase as she talked. "Not too hard to believe, right?"

"Nah," Reno said, softly, for the first time. "Not too hard to believe." Elena looked up at him, surprised, and Reno smiled a little bit, in that brash, unabashed, almost disturbing way that he tended to. Elena chuckled, and Reno dropped his bag, walking over to sit beside her on the bed. "But then again, we're all only human, right? Said it yourself."

Reno put a hand on Elena's shoulder, and she rested her head on his hand, sighing with a rueful smile on her lips. "Yeah, aren't we, though. And I bet my complaining isn't helping my case with you, is it?" She laughed again.

Reno rolled his eyes. "Oh please, Elena. If you had to have a case with me in the first place, you think I would have risked my ass to get you out here?" He shook his head, and said, without a trace of rancor, "You're a crazy, ungrateful little snipe."

"You came because Tseng came and picked you up off of the floor of a bar, or something along those lines," Elena countered. "I mean, not saying I'm 'ungrateful,' per say, but let's face the facts, all right, if it weren't for Tseng, none of us would ever have left where we were hiding out in time for anything, let alone voluntarily have looked out for each other.

Reno shook his head. "Nah," he said. "Never. I'd have come for you before long." Elena stared at him, and Reno shrugged. "I think you knew it was true all along. If Rude hadn't gotten to you first, that is. It'd never have worked out for us to be alone." He stretched out his legs across the bed, and put his arms up behind his head, not looking directly at Elena. "Never fear."

"Who, me?" Elena chuckled, self-deprecating. "I'm _never_ afraid." She leaned forward a little on the bed, grinning at Reno. "Not me."

Reno laughed. "Yeah," he said, "I know it."

Suddenly, Elena, almost entirely on the other side of the bed, was too close to him, and he started to feel almost claustrophobic, in a disturbing way that he almost enjoyed. He watched her large eyes as she met his gaze, inquisitive, her previous capricious mood mostly dissipated. He felt warm, and sat back against the post of the bed on his side, folding his legs in against each other. "Yeah," he repeated, "that's our little soldier."

It was something he'd called her when she'd first joined the Turks. Elena had always been at least a head and shoulders shorter than the rest of the force, and Reno had made endless fun of her about it, until she'd proven herself to be a better fighter than even some of his mentors. The name had turned into an affectionate nickname, one that Rude had chuckled at, and Tseng had scowled at, carrying through until they'd lost touch with each other all those years ago.

"I'm not little," she said, bristling slightly, eyebrows raised.

Reno grinned. "Okay, sorry," he murmured. "Our vertically-challenged soldier." Elena laughed, and stretched out her legs, her foot coming into contact with Reno's shin, despite his distance on the bed. She retracted it gently, but didn't apologize, and Reno looked up to admonish her, and then didn't. He watched her for a moment, and then shook his head and laughed quietly to himself.

"What?" Elena asked, eyebrows ascending into her hairline. Reno shook his head.

"Who knows," he said. "Never woulda thought it was gonna be me." Elena opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but he didn't give her the opportunity. Reno leaned in and, closing the distance between them on the bed, kissed her without a moment's hesitation, taking in Elena's little gasp of surprise with a chuckle. He laid one hand along her cheek, pulling her face in closer to him, as Elena finally began, slowly, to respond to the kiss.

Reno fell back onto the bed, pulling Elena closer to him, up over him, until she was leaning against him, her lips caressing his, arms entwined around his waist as her short blond hair got into his mouth. He tried blowing it out of the way, or pushing it out of his face, but after a moment was forced to succumb to the kiss, hair and all, smiling to himself all the while. She pressed herself against him, once hesitant, now eager, and Reno held her as close as he could, one hand caressing her neck as the other began to undo the button on her jeans.

Elena began to kiss at his neck softly, her warm breath blowing in his ear as her lips ran over his throat, down his chest. Reno closed his eyes as she went to reach for the bottom of his shirt and to pull it up over his head. As she did so, however, she paused for a moment, and poked him in the side, eliciting a little squeak and a jump from Reno, who glared at her around the hair that kept obscuring his view.

"You're never easy, are you," he whispered. Elena laughed. Reno was glad he didn't, at that point, have to get up to close the door. "C'mere," he muttered, and, pulling her to him, he kissed her, pulling the covers of the bed halfway up over them in an attempt to obscure them from any eyes that might, at that moment, decide to come through the adjoining room.

On the other side of the door, Tseng hadn't moved from where he'd collapsed on to the bed, leaving Rude alone to sit and watch the door to Elena's room. He bit his lip, pushed his sunglasses up a little bit farther on his face, tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach that tore him between sadly sinking, and hope that maybe they'd all found something that would tie them inextricably together.


End file.
